A note to my students…
Dear Division 4,
I just wanted to write a note to you all to say hello, but also to say goodbye for now! Today is our last day of school (online) and then we have summer break and then come back to school in September. While we don’t know what school will look like yet, I hope to see you all in September! If you aren’t in my class next year, make sure you come by my room to say hi!
This year has been a crazy year! We did so much together, but also I feel like we lost out on so much time together. While I missed you at school, I knew that you were safe at home and doing really great things (from what I saw in your emails!). I want to say how proud I am of you all. In September, you were all nervous about starting a new grade and weren’t sure about your reading skills or math skills and now I want you to think about where you are now. Each of you grew so much (physically-you got so tall!), but also you grew as individuals in our community. You figured out what you needed to work on for school and you put in the time and effort and improved! Each of you improved on your reading and the same goes for math, and all of the other subjects, and that is impressive. You also grew and showed who you are as individuals and I want you to know that even if you make mistakes, you have what it takes to succeed, overcome challenges, and demonstrate how kind and caring you can be. Remember that it’s ok to make mistakes (even adults!), all we expect is for you to learn from them.
We talked a lot about kindness this year, we talked about showing kindness to others and we had our kindness wall where we said “Let’s stick with kindness” and stuck sticky notes on the board which pointed out kind acts that we did. We talked about kindness to animals and learned about them with our animal projects and Urban Safari Rescue Society. We also talked about kindness to ourselves, where we talked about how to keep our minds healthy and how to know when to take a break and that it’s ok if we aren’t ready to do something or if we need more time (Remember the book, “The Good Egg” and all about his shell cracking because he did too much, and how he had to take time to look after himself and repair his shell).
We talked about safety (a lot!) and that whatever choices we made, they must be safe. We talked about making good choices for ourselves and others and knowing when to admit that a choice we made wasn’t the best, but then learning from it and talking about how to fix it.
We talked about being ourselves and that it’s ok to be different. We talked about how what we look like doesn’t matter and that what’s on the inside is important. We said that we would never say that we wouldn’t like someone or be mean to someone just because of what they look like and that we’re all unique. We talked about respect for others and that no matter what, everyone deserves respect and to feel safe in our classroom, in our school, in our community, and all over the world. We talked about being ourselves and that we don’t need to change anything about ourselves just to make someone happy and that as long as we’re happy with ourselves and kind to others, that’s all that matters.
As you go into the summer break, remember what we learned as a class. Remember what you have learned at home these last couple of months.
Your assignment for today and for each day is:
Be Kind, Be Safe, Make Good Choices, Be You.
I’ll see you in September,
Ms. Chin
