I’m so proud!

May 23, 2011 | Posted in: Class Updates

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I was so glad to see most of the students and parents at Thursday’s open house last week.  The tribute that the kids performed to honor Mrs. Cowdrey was touching and heart-felt, and their concert performance as a whole was lovely.  On our bus ride to the Children’s Museum this morning, the kids skipped the usual bus songs (“The Song that Never Ends” or “I Know a Song that Gets on Everybody’s Nerves” are the usual favorites) in favor of a rendition of “The Jolly Piper” – one of their songs from the recent concert.  I can think of no better testament to Mrs. Cowdrey’s impact than the fact that kids ended up singing one of her concert songs on a field trip.

Following Thursday’s concert, I enjoyed welcoming students and families into our seemingly 90-degree classroom for open house.  I appreciate all the positive feedback that I received from parents about the project.  As I said to one parent on Thursday and to the whole class on Friday, teachers are tasked with the job of preparing children to hold jobs in the future that, in many cases, may not have even been conceived of yet!  With this need in mind, it’s essential that kids learn the skills of how to plan, organize, and execute a project, not just those of completing an assigned task.  As much as this project was intended to help kids learn about a new topic or a new means of presenting, it was also intended to help kids learn how to manage their projects.   This skill will only become more critical for students in the coming years.

A few students presented their projects on Wednesday, and many more presented on Thursday.  I saw pride in the kids’ faces as they shared with their classmates during the day and as they shared with their families during open house.  On Friday, the kids rotated among the six fourth grade classrooms to see what their fellow fourth graders created for their invention projects.  At the same time, the other fourth graders came into our classroom to look at our kids’ TUSS projects.  The feedback I received was very positive, and the other kids loved looking at the projects that were on display in our room.  We finished the day by presenting a few other projects before our Town Meeting at the end of the day.

Today, given our morning field trip and afternoon Junior Achievement session, we only had time for one more presentation.  We’ll finish the presentations tomorrow, I think.  (As much as I love seeing the projects on display, we’ve already started to dismantle the “museum” layout so that we can start to get back to our daily routine.)  I’m going to hang onto the projects for a bit longer so that I can finish grading them before sending them home.  Please let me know if this is a problem.

Once again, thank you for your help as you worked with your son or daughter on his or her TUSS project.  I know many of the the kids enjoyed making their own projects, and I know that the kids have loved seeing their friends presenting their own projects.  In the coming week, you’ll see a survey coming home from me.  This survey is intended to bring me feedback about the project and what I can do differently in the future.  Thanks, in advance, for your help with this.  I know your time is valuable!