Thursday, October 15, 2015
Dear Parents,
It’s hard to believe that it’s the end of the quarter
already. I have been amazed at the growth the students have made. I want to
thank you for all your hard work with your children. Thank you to all the
parents and grandparents who have been able to read with students, give
spelling tests, chaperone field trips, make copies, cut, laminate, and put
together Montessori materials, and everything else you have done to help me. I
really appreciate it.
I am looking forward
to meeting with you all next week to talk about your child’s progress.
Conferences will be held Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22 from
12:45 p.m.-4:00 p.m. I will also be offering conferences on Monday, October 19
and Tuesday, October 20 from 7:00 a.m.-8:15 a.m. Students will be released at
12:30 p.m. on October 21 and 22 and there is no school on Friday, October 23. Parents now have the ability to schedule
conference times online. The Conference Scheduler is now available. Please
schedule soon to secure conference times that work best for your family. If you
don’t sign up, I will be forced to clean my desk and that is never a fun thing
for me. Please visit the online scheduler at: www.asdk12.org/parents. You will need to choose 1st
grade and then find my name and you will find my schedule. If you are not able
to use the online system please call or email. I look forward to meeting with you all and celebrating your child’s
progress.
What
started out as a bet I lost to two students five summers ago, turned into a
wonderful experience that keeps on going. Evan and Leland, now eighth graders,
approached me at the end of the school year and proposed a bet. If the Los
Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship, they would become teachers for the
day. I agreed, but said if the Cleveland Cavaliers won, they would have to wash
my car. As you know, my car still needs a wash and they became teachers for the
day. Over the summer I wished I had come up with this idea on my own. I’ve
always told the students that I’m not the only teacher in the classroom. Each
student is a teacher. Each student brings unique experiences and expertise to
our class and when he or she shares those gifts, the rest of us receive new
learning. Leland and Evan wanted to take over the class the first day of
school, but I told them they needed to take a teaching course first. They came
in several times during their lunch time and wrote lesson plans, practiced the
lessons they would teach, and promised to be professional. On Friday they came
dressed in ties, greeted the students at the door, conducted circle, gave math
lessons, spelling tests, and a volcano science lesson that Evan said, “had the
crowd going crazy”. After a few giggles from the students seeing their new
teachers, they settled in and were respectful to our guest teachers. The whole
day was a real joy for me to see these third graders demonstrate such
responsibility and see a little of myself in their teaching style. I was so
impressed and excited by the entire experience that it will forever be a right
of passage for every third grader to be teacher for the day. Thank you Leland
and Evan for your wonderful gift. On Monday, October 12 we continued the
tradition with Sarah and Svea taking over the teaching duties for the day. They
did a marvelous job teaching subtraction to the first graders, multiplication
to the second graders, and double digit division to the third graders, taught
us how to make survival bracelets (Thank you to Annie’s family for providing
the materials to make them!), and more. The students and I were impressed on
how peaceful and quietly everyone worked. It was a great day!
Our
next scheduled field trip will be on Thursday, November 5. We will be walking
to the Performing Arts Center to see Junior Theater’s, “Click, Clack, Moo” We
will leave the school at about 9:35 and return at about 11:45. I have sent home
permission slips in today’s folder. We look forward to this fun event.
The
Denali Fall Carnival is on Friday, October 30 from 6:00-8:30. Please join us
for music, games, and a lot of fun. If you are able to donate a cake for the
cakewalk, it will be greatly appreciated.
If
you have not done so, you can access all future newsletters and pictures at http://denalimontessori177.blogspot.com/. If you type in your email in the box
on the right hand corner, you will automatically receive an email when I have
added anything. Thank you again to Mr. Horning for putting this together for
me!
Thank you
to Michael, Annie, and Sarah’s family for providing snacks for the snack
cupboard this week!
There is
no homework for next week due to the short conference week. I will send
homework again next week that will be due on Friday, October 30.
Sincerely,
Craig Moyer
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| Van Gogh came alive! |
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| The teachers lead the circle discussion. |
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| The teachers greet the students. |
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| The teachers giving the 1st graders a math lesson. |
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| Explosive fun at the museum. |
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| The Spark Lab was a big hit. |
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| Spark Lab fun. |
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| Having fun in the Discovery Center. |
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| Let's build something fun in the Spark Lab. |
