Greetings GreenMount Community,
At this morning’s
meeting, we heard from many students about their adventures over the spring
break. It is fun to hear how excited
they were about their various trips and experiences and it is obvious that, as
parents, you are making every effort to enrich your children’s lives, whether
on a trip to another state or by taking them to our Baltimore Zoo. It seems that a lot of you took advantage of
the many things that our state has to offer.
We are very fortunate to live in Maryland where we can be at either the
beach or in the mountains in just three hours.
Today, I talked to the students a
little about the importance of learning outside of school. Often, you have more opportunities to expose
your children to experiential learning than we do at school, and I encourage
you to continue to provide those enriching experiences that are offered locally
and in other exciting places. I also recommend that you always learn about your
destination before going so that you have a good set of questions with which
you can engage your children in meaningful discussions. For example, many of us go “downey oshun,” where
the object for the trip is the same for adults and children – relax on the sand
and enjoy the waves. But have you ever
thought about all the questions that you could create just by being on the sand
or in the water?
- What is sand?
- What is it made of?
- How long does it take to make sand?
- Why is sand so hot on a 90-degree day?
- How does sand change when mixed with water?
- What makes a wave?
- Why do waves curl?
- What causes the tides?
- And many more….
If you do your homework and
research before going on family trips, you will be surprised at the level of
conversation you can engage in with your children. They are curious at any age, and when you
share that curiosity nothing can be a more powerful learning tool. One of my most memorable moments with my
youngest daughter was one night when she was about nine, when we sat on a lifeguard
stand looking up at the night sky. I
asked her if she thought it is possible to see the past and the present at the
same time. She said, “Daddy, how can you
see the past? It’s gone.” Look at the
stars, I told her, and you will see the past in the present. This confused her a little, until I explained
that the light from those stars started out to reach our eyes millions of years
ago and that what we were looking at right then was something happening long,
long ago. I wasn’t sure if she fully
understood, but now, as 35-year-old young woman, she often talks of that time
as one of the best experiences she ever had with her dad. Now she explains the idea of the speed of
light to my grandson. She has added a
challenge to her talk. “Look at that
star,” she tells Connor. “Do you see
it? It’s not there!”
Cheers,
Steve
