I recently spent a Sunday afternoon listening to JoAnn Deak speak in Princeton. Here is a video of some of what I heard. Her opinions about research and brain imaging are very compelling. It is an hour long, so bookmark it and go back and forth. Enjoy!
Sometimes in the mélée of the holidays, we forget to be grateful. We forget to be grateful for…
– Our health.
– Our good fortune to be able to choose our education for our children.
– The privilege to work and play and learn in an environment as amazing as this one.
– Our warm car (instead of the bus) that gets us to the long, annoying grocery lines where we are able to buy our holiday meals.
– Our extended family visiting over the holidays. We get lost in the fretting of making everything “just so” for their visit, and though their presence can be potentially irksome, it also means we are not alone in our celebrations.
– The freedom to go to bed late and wake up early in our toasty and furnished homes with a roof over our heads.
Sometimes we forget to model authentic gratitude for our children. At this week’s faculty meeting, I challenged all our faculty and staff with the following: Amid the exams and report cards and visitors and concert preparations, let us show gratitude. No, let us cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Not much later, this appeared in my mailbox:
This morning I ask only
the blessing of the crayfish,
the beatitude of the birds;
to wear the skin of the bear
in my songs;
to work like a man (or woman) with my hands.
Joseph Bruchac, contemporary poet and storyteller of traditional Iroquois tales
My own gratitude?
For friendship and family and good health,
For this school and community,
For the incredible faculty and staff,
For our hard working students and their families,
For the philanthropic generosity of so many in our community.
So let’s wear the skin of the bear and show our gratitude and enjoy time with family.
And for some great tips on navigating the holidays with your children, try this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/tips-to-get-your-kids-through-the-holidays-graciously-and-gratefully/2014/11/11/65899c74-639d-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html
Happy Thanksgiving!
A few cautionary tales about paying attention to our digital footprints for our students.
This is a blog I thoroughly enjoy following; some great bits in here. Look up the November 17 2014 post on MOXIE.
This has some very good tips for including children in the rituals and gratitude of holidays and holiday meals.
This is a terrific article and an even better BLOG to follow. Great information!
http://www.parenttoolkit.com/index.cfm?objectid=88BDDE90-4FBF-11E4-90E20050569A5318
This is a great article for teaching children the simple routines and early mindsets parents (and teachers) can foster for children, helping them develop empathy and see themselves as “of service” to their community.
This no nonsense list is a great resource for parents AND children. We all need to make sure we have a good system in place for our own digital accounts and processes before we lecture students about theirs! Thank You Vicki Davis!
Lots of valuable insight here into the role of curiosity in the mind of a child as he or she learns at school. If we can harness that curiosity early and often, the results can be inspiring.
Luckily for us, one of our PreK teachers, Mr. K., is involved in the PreK training program at Bank Street. Also, luckily for us, we know the value of PLAY and PreK at TPS.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/opinion/the-building-blocks-of-a-good-pre-k.html?_r=0
Head's Up, Kathleen McNamara 