New School Year - 2010-11

Welcome back to school! In only a week and a couple of days we start the school year 2010-11. We are getting ready to have a wonderful year of learning and new experiences. The teachers and I have been working all this month on a wide variety of projects in literacy, math, science and technology. We have new programs in store in character education. I am looking forward to sgharing details with you all; be on the lookout for a calendar-ful of opportunities to hear more,

We've only just begun...

A new school year represents a lot of change, of course. Young people may embrace change or not depending on how secure they're feeling. New friends, a new teacher, new academic and social challenges are all opportunities for self-development, which is exactly where young people are positioned, especially in elementary school. These changes can be somewhat stressful, but we shouldn't view the stress as all negative. The trick of dealing with stress is not necessarily trying to eliminate it (some stress can be a good thing) but learning to deal with it. Many wonderful things come from dealing with challenges, such as resilience, patience, self-confidence, responsibility, the ability to problem-solve, and increased learning. Let's commit ourselves this year to finding ways to help our young people successfully navigate some new challenges. That sounds like a challenge ;-)

Summer 09

It's been awhile since the last post. Four months actually. Now, at the end of June, several weeks after the students left for summer, and a week after the office officially closed for the summer, I have had some time to take care of paperwork and to reflect on the year.

To say that I experienced a lot of learning is almost an understatement. There were lots of new people, new activities, new curricula, and other new things to learn. What made it not only doable but enjoyable was the tremendous support from staff and parents that I received this year.

Thank you all for your encouragement, help and welcome to El Carmelo. Year One is over and we are speeding on to 2009-2010. I am excited about where we are headed. More to come...

Responsibility

Yesterday we had our monthly assembly. Our dress up activity was "look-alike" (Mr. Walton and I looked very sporty in our jeans and white dress shirts) and our community theme was "Responsibility". Most of our students know that "be responsible" is one of our three basic school rules, along with "be safe" and "be respectful". We made up a little responsibility 'ceremony' using an object made out of overlaid sticks. The object, a diamond shape, is held together with tension from the pressure of the overlap (okay, okay, the kinder and 1st grade objects MAY have had a little super-glue help).

Anyway, the object of the ceremony was to show 'responsibility' for the care of the object by safely passing one through the hands of each student by grade level. One by one. Carefully. The kinder and first grades proudly finished first and second respectively. Fortunately I had made back-up objects for when the objects fell apart, but several teams just continued passing the pieces along, carefully handing them on down the line (I liked this a lot - in May we are talking about "perseverance").

Just wanted you to know, in case you hear about the 'special artifact' from 'a faraway forest'. And thank you for all that you do in collaboration with us to teach your children to be responsible, both as individuals and as a group.

Lego Night

Last Thursday a group of Legomaniacs took over the MP room. We played Lego Bingo, Lego car racing, Lego counting, Lego tossing, and of course Lego building. The Lego masterpieces were exhibited in the Lego Museum (the MP stage) of which I had the honor of serving as curator. Students received certificates for their creative efforts.

Also, a phenomenal apple pie (baked by our own Alan Leong) made the rounds at Lego Night, enticing hungry Legomaniacs to make their PIE donations at the event so that they could participate in a PIE pie drawing (I can tell you that the lucky winner was VERY happy). This was so successful that we are coninuing PIE pie drawings through the rest of this week. If you haven't done so so far, you can still make a PIE donation and have your name put into a drawing for a delicious pie. Benefitting PIE.

Pie for now,

Chuck Merritt

Inauguration in the classroom

It occurred to me this morning that it is a very good thing that the inauguration is also a school day. I had the privilege of seeing the events of this morning in classrooms across the grade levels.

I saw the motorcade and large shots of the immense crowd on the mall in a fifth grade classroom. I joined a kinder classroom for the procession of dignitaries onto the platform. I heard the new vice-president and president take their oaths in a 4th grade classroom. I listened to President Obama's address with 3rd graders. Elizabeth Alexander read her poem for the inauguration while I was in a 2nd grade classroom. And I finished watching the proceedings with a 1st grade class.

I am so glad that El Carmelo students had this opportunity. In one classroom, the teacher had written on the whiteboard some key phrases from the President's address: "imagination joined in common purpose"; "we are the keepers of our country's legacy"; "find meaning in something greater than ourselves". Our students have something that they can take away from this morning that is very special. Kudos to our teaching staff for seizing the opportunity.

Happy New Year!

I'm sitting in my office, looking out at a quiet campus, knowing that all of the members of the El Carmelo community are doing something different (hopefully all fun) at this moment. I'm also thinking of what we have to look forward to in 2009, again so many different expectations and future experiences, from kinder to fifth grade, but all focused on the growth of our kids.

My very best wishes to you at the end of this year and into the next. See you in 2009!

Chuck Merritt