Dear Laurence Family, 

One of my favorite days of the year will soon be upon us... the first day of school! The joy and excitement of that first day is something that I look forward to all summer long. You are all a part of my family, and it feels like one big reunion when everyone comes "home."

We will be kicking off the year with a continuation of our character education program, "Keep Kind in Mind."  This school year we will focus on the "7 Kinds of Kindness," looking at ways to be Kind to Ourselves, Kind to Others, and Kind to the Earth, at developmentally-appropriate levels for each grade level.  We will take a renewed look at sustainability and ways that we can preserve and protect our planet. 

Do you remember listening to your parents talking on the phone as you were waiting to ask a question? Or taking the long cord from the phone on the wall into a closet, or around the corner, so that you could speak in private? What about "I Spy" in the car on long road trips? These activities allowed us to develop strong expressive language: the ability to use words, sentences, gestures, and writing to convey meaning and messages to others.  

As environmental issues continue to be at the forefront of our daily news headlines and we field questions from curious children about various environmental crises, we should purposefully engage our students in environmental education, which directly supports our goal of raising global and environmentally responsible citizens. A group of classroom teachers has already volunteered to help steer this endeavor and now we will be asking families to help with ideas and resources. If we join together as a community, we can impart to our students the knowledge, skills, compassion, and motivation needed to help them understand and ultimately meet the challenges of our time.