Where's Warren?

Team,

You went and did it again. As a group, you went above and beyond to make sure every student felt safe, appreciated, and at home. I saw very few tears, and when they emerged, you all swarmed to support and guide. Thank you so much for a great first week!

Sometimes I feel like Where's Waldo. I wander the school and Hannah has to find me when she needs me! :) But being Waldo is a lot of fun as I get to witness educators demonstrating their vast craft knowledge, students engaged in meaningful work, and people pouring their heart into their jobs.

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This week, in true Waldo fashion, I was meeting free and able to witness the art of teaching in action. The time we invest now going slow and methodical will pay dividends later. Some of my favorite things that I noticed or observed this week that highlight that point:

• Students greeted at the door. What a great time to teach social skills and to do that first assessment of the day. More than that, I noticed a room where students choose the greeting: hug, dance, or high-five. Love it! 
• Classes practicing line walking. More than that, I overheard conversations as to WHY it is respectful to walk quietly in the hall. At the middle school, all classrooms transition at once. Here, in elementary land, it can be a big disturbance to shut your door in the middle of a lesson--or to be in the open wings and have classes go by while chatting. I appreciate and valued people going slow, not moving until the class was ready, and reiterating the why behind walking quiet. Awesome.
• Critical thinking/STEM based activities. Our kids need the soft skills just as much as they need the academic content. If they are brilliant but can't work in a group or share their thinking, where will that brilliance take them? I enjoyed seeing lock boxes, STEM challenges, and students communicating their thinking so early in the year. Kudos. 
• Teaching of classroom procedures. EVERYTHING we do in our classroom likely has a procedure attached to it. It's one thing to review rules or create classroom expectations collectively, it is another to go slow and to teach, reinforce, teach again, reinforce again...those procedures. Teaching students how to line up, how to turn in homework, how to transition to morning meeting...all of this teaching will create an efficient classroom. An efficient classroom with clean procedures creates more learning later in the year. Great stuff!
• Students reading! Keep those books in their hands! I appreciate that people made time to read to kids, have them read, and to teach them how to pick out books. Our kids need the reading miles, and all reading instruction we provide is with the goal of creating life long readers and thinkers. Loved that I saw so much reading happening already!
• Smiles. Yes, I saw smiles. Although we all show our excitement in different ways, we are the model for kids. How we work together, how we engage with one another, and the energy we bring to work has an impact on them. I saw great energy, smiles, people laughing. That may be easy to do at this point in the year because everything is fresh and new, but I know this added to students feeling at home. They will treat one another in a way that is similar to how we treat one another, and I appreciate the way we set such an amazing example for them. Go QUEST!

Thank you for all you did this week. I'm beyond proud to be your principal, and I wish you nothing short of a relaxing and restful weekend.

Go Eagles!

Derek