Greetings, GreenMount Community,
I
would say that our theme event was “Boffo!” (a huge success, as per Variety magazine, which coined the term). When you came here on Friday, did you expect
to see our students so confident in their ability to demonstrate what they had
learned? Did you expect to see all of
our kids so engaged in what they were doing?
I have watched 17 of these themes come together and I am still always
amazed at the final product. And of all 17,
I can’t think of one that was a “flop” (another term coined by Variety).
Certainly this
theme was a challenging one for our teachers and the students. How should we approach this 49-year period in
our history during which so much happened?
What parts of this history are most essential for our students’
understanding? These kinds of questions
help us make choices about the curriculum for the theme and drive the
instruction and projects that students complete. And in the end, the students learn a lot, as
demonstrated on Friday. From
kindergarten students who studied about the gold rush to eighth graders who
tackled the issues of big business and workers’ rights, we saw that our kids
have accomplished a lot in just about 53 days.
The memories
that our theme events create will stay with these students for many years to
come. Second and third grade students
who wrote such wonderful poems about settling the west will remember how
important it was to share them with the people who visited their
classroom. They will long remember what
it was like to receive such deserved praise for their literary accomplishments.
Students in the Vaudeville and Wild West Show will remember what it was like to
take a risk and dramatize Annie Oakley’s feats of marksmanship or to stand
alone before an audience telling corny jokes.
And who will forget the 90-minute debate on the Bread and Roses strike?
This memory of
an opportunity to present oneself to a large audience and demonstrate knowledge
may well be the important event that changes a person forever. For the adults who witnessed all of the
venues on Friday, the memory of bursting with pride for all of our kids will last
forever, too. I am personally wondering how long the songs of our choruses will
keep repeating in my head. I’ll not ever
hear the Harrigan song again without hearing it as “lollipop”. Nor will I ever feel as patriotic when I hear
“Over There” as I did on Friday. I think
our themes bring out the best in our students, and with each conclusion I am
again convinced that we have something very special going on here. Thank you for your unending support and for
the gift of seven hours a day with your children.
Cheers,
Steve
