Families,
Last month I filled you in on our One Book, One School efforts for this year. Slacker seems to be a big hit. Since our kickoff in early February, students and staff have been engaging with the text and enjoying a variety of activities. They have been reading aloud, reading independently, engaging in Monday lessons and activities, having text base discussions, and even enjoying character visitations on the morning announcements (portrayed by different staff members). Certainly fun to engage with a text in so many different ways.
We will culminate our One Book, One School experience with a “Day of Service” on Friday, March 15. The characters in Slacker discover the power and the pleasure that comes from helping others. We want our students to have an opportunity to experience this too. So on that day, we will turn our attention from learning that service is a positive thing to providing authentic opportunities for students to serve. Each student and staff member will have the chance to choose from a variety of engaging activities. These include: making fleece blankets to donate to Legacy Salmon Creek, helping prepare meals and care kits for homeless families, writing thank you cards to those serving in the military, local fire, police and emergency workers, baking bread/cookies for local nursing homes, making homemade laundry soap for distribution at Share House, helping seniors “write their story,” making water purification indicators for individuals in developing countries, working with elementary students at Eisenhower, cleaning and organizing the JLMS library and resource rooms, grounds beautification, painting rocks with supportive messages to be donated to Doernbecher Children’s hospital, making beaded bracelets for the non-profit Good Deeds with Beads, making friendship bracelets, an art project for a local retirement home, making cat and dog toys out of old t-shirts, kindness cards, and others. Should be an exciting day of giving back and helping others.
As we try to live our mission to “Open doors to student success by developing lifelong learners, responsible decision makers and caring and contributing members of society,” events like this help to provide real opportunities to put this vision into action. I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with a group of individuals who are truly committed to doing their part to help in the learning and growing process for our youth. I love this school and this is another example of the continued efforts being put forth to make our daily work even more meaningful and impactful.
Finding our greatness
Curt