We all got a little sad today watching these kids go out the door. I was surprised and touched by the beautiful gifts that I was given this week. Guys, this is my job and it's a blast, and you don't have to get me stuff. But thank you! One boy handed my a blue white board marker -- brand new.
Two girls said, "Mr. Bolger, we didn't get you anything, so we practiced a dance. Watch this..."
And I've felt good handshakes and hugs and kind words from you as I have seen you across the week. They mean a lot to me. For the second-grader families who are moving on, I will miss you. It's a terrible hazard of this job: you occasionally meet someone who is older than 8; we come to know each other, and then, unless there are two or three siblings, it's two years and you're gone.
But, on the other hand, when we work together as I get to do with all of you, and we try to guide these little 6, 7, and 8 year-olds, that joint work-project is more important and more valued than anything else in the world, and we usually connect with each other in a pretty life-long way. You can't beat that. I know that I will be running into your kids at some concert on the waterfront in 15 years, and I will be chasing after them asking if they remember that poem they wrote when they were six.
So,
in summary, I want to say thank you for a fabulous year. I learned a
lot from your kids, and I learned a lot from you all when you came in or
we talked on the phone or sent emails. We are all parents. We are all teachers. Have a great summer, and I look forward to seeing all of you, or if necessary, half of you, in the fall.
A couple of important notes. ( Thank you for reading...)
1) I've signed up all of my first and second graders for a month (for free) with a math website called IXL.
I know I mentioned that on some of the report cards. If your child goes
to his or her school email, there is a user name and a password and an
explanation. Basically, you sign in (username: firstnamelastname481)
(password: firstname). Then, look for the correct grade level, and if
Donna and I gave your child suggestions on some things to work on, you
can find them listed and run through the pretty-fun exercises to
"master" the skill and "earn" a "ribbon." All my second graders from
this year had a chance to practice it, and they were quite motivated.
You
and your child can skip sections that he or she already has mastered,
and instead, focus on the skills that need to be practiced. The program
reads how long it takes to answer questions, and the rate of success
with the problems, and it adjusts the questions accordingly. Moreover,
if your child wants to try out the grade he or she is going into, by all
means, go adventuring.
Mention IXL to your children, Have them try it out today or tomorrow, while they are still under the school spell (at least a little!) and you may luck out and have them get into it and take off -- no nagging required!
This
is optional, of course, but I think it's a good resource and I believe
that every kid at every level would benefit from 3-4 sessions per week
at 20 minutes or so per session. The technology is there to bring this
benefit into our homes at no cost. I'd be crazy not to urge you to help your kids stay in the game over these next 7 or 8 weeks.
Ok. Enough said! By the way, I won't judge you if you decide that your
family wants a complete break from school for a few weeks. I get it.
On
the other hand, for parents who are looking for some help with skills
practice and motivation/accountability for their child's learning across
the summer, I do get a master list from IXL, and if you would like me
to check in with your child via emails a few times over the summer to encourage him or her, I would be glad to do that.
2) Mrs. Powers and Mrs. Rodliff and Ms. Schwarts have also passed along to me -- and I have passed along to you -- traditional 1st grade and second grade math packets.
Those too are optional. You may do those instead of IXL, or along with
IXL, or not at all. We just know that different things work for
different families, and we wanted to give you as many options as
possible.
3). We four teachers have also
collaborated on a simple reading structure for the summer. For my core
students, I am asking them to continue reading 20 minutes per day either
5 days per week or seven days per week, whichever you prefer. We
have sent home a "fishing license" for fishing for good books, a
"fishing" bookmark, and a little recording sheet. The idea is to draw a
little fish on the calendar days where you read for 20 minutes. If you
read for 40 minutes on Monday, you could color in Monday and Tuesday.
You may certainly tweak it to fit your needs.
I told
the students today that if they do this Horizon summer reading program,
and they come and show me their "reading log" when school starts, I will give them a prize.
If they read a bunch of books outside of this "program" and keep track
of them instead, I think that would also deserve a prize. Finally, there
is a great reading program put on by the Dorothy Alling Memorial
Library in town. If you and your child decide that that is the reading
program you'd like to do, I would certainly give a prize if your child
brought that sheet to me in September.
I don't know what the prizes will be yet, but they'll be something in the area of a can of play dough or a bouncy ball or ??.
4) Mrs. Powers and I sent home kids' scrapbooks from the year. FYI: I added a page, and perhaps Mrs. Powers did too, that shows kids' phone numbers for making playdates.
5) If any published writing or any pictures didn't make it into the scrapbooks from my class, go to the class blog and the kids' Kid Blogs, and copy
and print any writing and pictures you like. I have a ton of pictures
from this year that I will be loading onto the class blog this week.
I'll let you know when they are on.
Last, I will be checking this work email about every other day across the summer. Feel free to contact me with any questions about the past year, the year to come, or about the present -- which is a very beautiful present given that it is your child's first afternoon
of Summer Vacation.
of Summer Vacation.
Take care, everyone, and thanks again, for everything.
David
PS: If you are packing to go somewhere already, or if you are just trying to shout to your kids as they run towards traffic, please try to make a point of sitting down today or tomorrow or the next day with you child in a quiet place with no interruptions and ask them to show you their scrapbook. There is so much even they had forgotten until seeing it today, and to a child, they said they couldn't wait to share it with Mom or Dad. Find a quiet spot, sit down, and give them and yourselves that time. You have worked so hard. You both deserve it.
PS: If you are packing to go somewhere already, or if you are just trying to shout to your kids as they run towards traffic, please try to make a point of sitting down today or tomorrow or the next day with you child in a quiet place with no interruptions and ask them to show you their scrapbook. There is so much even they had forgotten until seeing it today, and to a child, they said they couldn't wait to share it with Mom or Dad. Find a quiet spot, sit down, and give them and yourselves that time. You have worked so hard. You both deserve it.
