We Are Off to a Great Start

Mahalo for attending Open House this past Thursday night. It was wonderful meeting all of you and getting reacquainted with former parents. As I stated, your children are off to a wonderful start in 5th grade. They are realizing the significance of being a 5th grader and are working hard to exude the values and leadership qualities we expect of them.

On Friday morning when your children entered the classroom, they each made a beeline for their desks to read what adjectives you had written to describe them. This is not typical behavior of 5th graders in the morning. Usually, they want to chat with friends. They were also eager to see what adjectives you had written for the skills and traits they will need in middle school and beyond.

Friends discussed these adjectives at their tables before we shared out as a class. The class noticed the same words being used (maturity, independence, responsibility, caring, self-awareness, empathy, hard-working, and open-minded).

In our classroom, and in CE class with Mrs. Day, we will be exploring various values, traits and characteristics throughout this school year. Your children will have many opportunities this year to self-reflect on these values and decide which values they most identify with and feel they embody as a 5th grader.

We have been busy building community the past few weeks while the class learns my routines and expectations of them. We have eased into homework with our first reading log being sent home this past Friday. Time management was also a skill listed by a few parents. As I passed out the reading log on Friday, I introduced the skill of time management. When I asked the class what it meant, 5th grader MC raised his hand and said how he plans to look at his schedule for the upcoming week. On days he has back-to-back practices for different teams, he won’t be able to have enough time to read. So, he plans to get started this weekend, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Lastly, I just wanted to let you know how awesome your kiddos are! They are a fun, happy, sweet, and enthusiastic bunch. They are embracing 5th grade with open minds and open hearts. They have been wanting a rainy day recess, but we have been out in the blaring sun since school started. On Friday, I decided they deserved an indoor recess and let them play with the 5th grade games and materials.Their photos are sprinkled throughout the blog. As you can see, nothing but smiles and fun for this group.