Dear Division 6 families,

Welcome back! We had a fantastic first day back today! We spent a good portion of our day learning about, brainstorming, discovering, and deciding on our “one word” that we will use to anchor ourselves in our daily lives. This is a practice that is gaining more momentum as an alternative to making a list of new year resolutions which many of us have trouble keeping for the entire year. Alternatively, choosing “one word” is something that I have been doing for the past few years. Click here to read about my “one word” from last year and this year in my reflection. In the past few days, I have felt so inspired by reading other people’s “one word” that I encouraged our Gilmore staff community to find their “one word” as well.

We watched a video about a story named One Word for Kids. In their planner, you will see a note to share about what we did today. For some, they were asked to dive into this further, to challenge themselves to go into their stretch zones to think even more deeply about how their “one word” can be applied to all aspects of their lives personally and in their communities and how it can help them during good times and challenging times. If your child was away, please have them explore by going online to see samples of words to choose from and then write a paragraph on why they chose this word as well as how they will use it. They can include how they will use this word. For example, if they chose “brave”, then how will they become braver? What strategies will they use to get outside of their comfort zone? What examples do they have for situations where they will need to be more brave? It’s all about diving in further and further for that “magnifying glass” writing. Click here for one website to check out. Click here for another.

During our last week together in December, we thoroughly enjoyed learning about everyone’s Passion Projects. For those who finished theirs, please begin to brainstorm what they want to learn about next!

From our Community Circle, it sounds like you had a wonderful yet quiet break but filled with lots of family time. I thoroughly enjoyed mine! Thank you, everyone, for your generous gifts. I am touched. The kind words written by your children in their cards warmed my heart. I am deeply grateful.

Sincerely, Ms. Chan