Fall Update - August 2020

Dear Arbor Families, 

As we shared in our last update, on July 28 Governor Brown issued public-health metrics that govern when all public and private schools in Oregon may return to in-person instruction. Although we had every hope of welcoming your children back to campus in September, it is now these metrics --the infection rate in the metro area -- that will determine when that is possible. As a school that draws more than ten percent of its student, staff and faculty population from Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties, the guidelines require that we consider the infection rates in all three.

To help us track progress toward in-person instruction, we have prepared and will maintain this table of the number of cases per 100,000 population in each county. In addition to the number of cases, the test positivity-rate in the three counties must be at or below 5%. The county case rates and test-positivity rates for last week can also be seen here.

Given the current numbers and even with the somewhat positive trend, we cannot set any realistic timetable for inviting students back to campus, although we will be prepared to do so at the first opportunity. However, on August 11 the Oregon Department of Education issued amended guidelines within which it appears that we will be able to invite small groups of students to return to campus for partial days on a recurring basis. Some questions remain about the extent of what is possible, but we anticipate gathering students for important orientation and relationship-building activities as classes begin, and ongoing opportunities for critical social interaction as the fall progresses. We will share our plans for gathering as we learn all that is permitted and we will continue to explore all possibilities for bringing students together.

In the meantime, faculty have been hard at work developing a robust online program, building on what we learned in the spring and informed by research and coursework this summer.

It is our aim to offer curricula and schedules that are developmentally appropriate for each grade level, that provide for the differentiation that matches what we offer when we are in classrooms together, and that give families room to make choices about what is possible for them to support. As we plan for students to be working at home, we are also planning for the pivot back to the classroom, so that the work will be consistent between both contexts and the transition will be as seamless as possible. See a summary of on-site plans here. 

We understand that families are of necessity finding creative approaches to supporting students managing their schoolwork at home, including gathering small groups of children together in pods. We see the social and academic benefits of these groups for students and understand the necessity for parents to be able to establish work schedules. However, we also understand that the formation of such groups can raise equity issues, particularly if there is to be a paid adult working with the children, and that there are families for whom these groups will not be possible, whether for financial reasons or because of location and/or health risks.Therefore, our distance learning curricula will not be specifically tailored to these groups and we ask that familles forming these groups attempt to be as inclusive as possible, so that all feel welcome, and that an effort be made to extend the invitation to the new families joining us this year.

Although we won’t be in classrooms in September, It is the time of year when we would normally be sending you lists of needed school supplies. This year, because of the uncertainty of when we will be back in classrooms and to meet our wish for students to have particular materials at home to meet curricular needs, we will purchase and organize a packet of materials for each student, to be delivered in person on campus when students gather in small groups, or delivered to homes. Should there be a need for additional materials, for design work for example, we will supply those as needed.

We have spoken with many of you as you try to plan for the fall and to put in place structures that will support your children in learning at home while also allowing for the semblance of a normal work day. The disruption to the school calendar has asked so much of all of you and we keep that understanding in the forefront as we work toward having your children on campus, even for short visits. To do so with an acceptable level of risk for all in the community requires investment on our part -- an investment of effort in creative campus and cohort planning and a financial investment in things as tents, air purification equipment, and enhanced cleaning -- and it requires the commitment of Oregonians to fully adopt the practices that will reduce the rate of infection in our communities. We join you in doing all that is necessary to move to a more sustainable level of response to the presence of coronavirus in our lives and are grateful for all of the ways in which you continue to nurture the Arbor community in this difficult time.

With hope, 

Peter and Lori 

Growth Report: May 29, 2020

May: an aromatic, colorful segway toward summer. May’s blooms help our busy brains forget the wall of rain we so recently swam through. The warm, clear skies are perfect for honeybees to cut through efficiently, visiting a thousand of flowers per day. May is a month for pollination! The Arbor campus is a wonderful jungle of beneficial insects, including honeybees! May I suggest a meditative May activity for you? Sit beside a flower of your choosing. I suggest a yellow, white, purple or blue flower, since native and honeybees tend to prefer them. Observe the flower, and track how many insects pay a visit. What kinds of winged things, and how many? 

I’m greeted by the hum of catmint visitors as I pass by the gathering center. Catmint, a flower from the Nepeta family, attracts bees, hummingbirds and butterflies, and deters pests like aphids and squash bugs. Speaking of squash bugs, as the end of May nears, it’s time to hill up some mounds and direct-seed our favorite squash varieties! Will you plant pumpkins? Zucchini? Tom says if you plant zucchini, your neighbors will thank you: “they might not eat it… but they’ll thank you.”

Funky flowers

These funky flowers are currently blooming on Arbor’s potato plants. Fun fact- potatoes do not require pollination to produce their root fruit. They are hermaphroditic flowers, meaning they have both sex organs required to produce their fruit. When the flowers have completed their bloom, the potatoes are ready for a look-see. Pull up one nutrient-rock and rub its surface with your thumb. If the skin rubs away, it needs more time. If the skin is thick enough, go ahead and sift through the soil for all the potato siblings! What you’re not ready to cook, you can keep underground. 

I’ve grown potatoes a couple different ways this year: trench planting at Arbor, and in a bag at my home. Both styles allow for “hilling” the potatoes to force more root production and a higher yield. Leigh asked me about potatoes earlier this year--wondering when to plant, and then how long til hash browns? Her family has enjoyed at least one yummy harvest that I know of. Who else planted potatoes this year? How’s breakfast? 

((Email me for easy details on how to grow potatoes in a sack! clara@arborschool.org))

Personally, I can’t cook potatoes without garlic. The Arbor garlic bed dances like tens of green flags on the spring breeze. Yesterday I pulled a couple young ones for inspection. Plump little baby bulbs will season a weekend meal. Tell me your favorite way to enjoy garlic!

Apples are on their way!

Tom and I spent some time in the Arbor árboles thinning apple clusters! The evidence is strewn about the grass below: small, dense fruits that resist our picking and choosing. We used clippers to carefully cut the stems of all but one or two of the strongest fruits in each cluster. Tom told me that the “king fruit,” and that which we select for, is not necessarily the largest apple of the bunch, but rather the central apple with the most stable and stalky stem. We admitted to each other that while the tree climbing is fun, and the sound of heavy apples plunking to the ground satisfying, it doesn’t feel great to be the tough decision-maker. Which reminded me of a journal entry I made earlier this week as I weeded the library garden:

“To be a good gardener, one must also be a destroyer. I don’t only refer to the accidental deaths from which a gardener learns and grows. I mean, one must become trained to squish, pull, chuck. Pests. Weeds. Slugs. The sprouts must be thinned and an efficient garden-tender cannot be distracted by what-if optimisms. From these necessary deaths, our purposeful plantings grow.”  

To the contrary, Noemi and other dedicated intermediates display a strong argument for preservation of so-called “pest” life, by ferrying found snails and slugs in the gardens out to the woods where they cannot do harm to our vegetables. Sometimes it just takes time, little running feet, and childlike, loving acceptance to help all the creatures thrive at once.

Here’s to becoming better gardeners, I’ve got a lot of weeding to do yet. Sending love from Arbor’s gardens!

Clara

From our Librarian

Dear Arbor Families,

Lucky for us librarians, teachers, writers, producers, and publishers around our state, our nation, and our world continue to create and curate, and make freely available, engaging digital information materials and artworks for our children during these unforgettable days. Accessing these sometimes seemingly buried treasures can be a bit tricky for our kiddos. Some digital portals ask for users to create a free login. Others require a specific series of clicks to find the hidden gems. The good news: our children are eager learners and relish a promising scavenger hunt. With the support of their grown-ups and any available older siblings or friends, our readers might enjoy discovering the following pirate booty. 

Summer Reading at the Multnomah County Library

Behold! Next week on June 1, registration begins for the Multnomah County Library Summer Reading Program “Imagine Your Story” with fairytales, folktales, and fantasy. The program includes a fantastic, flexible game beginning on June 15 which features reading and listening to books and participating in activities that promise giants and ogres and dragons and spells and potions and sprites galore. Here are the simple steps to join the magical mystery adventures of long ago and far away! And remember: any resident in Oregon with a phone number qualifies for a Multnomah County Library card.  

The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian - A serialized sci-fi adventure story that is reported to be part Scooby-Doo and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yowzah sounds like some good fun! You and your kiddo can enjoy over one hundred 15-20 minute episodes!  

What If World: Stories for Kids - What if there was such a thing as magic shoes? What if dinosaurs were alive today? What if a tree named Harrigo went to eat a chocolate that was talking? Yes actually, you read that right! Ten to 20-minutes stories are spun to answer these curious questions we like to ponder.   

Brains On! Science-based stories for curious kids and adults, From the coronavirus to aliens and UFOs to the secret world of dust - it’s all here! Episodes run roughly 20-40 minutes.

Wow in the World - Another excellent science podcast that explores wonders of the world, including trips into our brains, trips to outer space and trips into new areas of science.

Ebooks & Audiobooks

Audible is currently offering over 200 hundred free audiobook recordings in the range of genres. Here’s the breakdown of the levels:

• 103 Available Audiobooks for Elementary 

  • Including this well-reviewed title, Coronavirus: A Book for Children

• 42 Books for Tweens Listeners 

• 69 Books for Teen Listeners 

The Multnomah County Library continues to offer easily accessibly no-holds always-available ebook and audiobooks across the genres. 

• Teen “always available” ebooks/audiobooks: https://multcolib.overdrive.com/collection/1064729

• Kids “always available” ebooks/audiobooks: https://multcolib.overdrive.com/library/kids/collection/1065257

 Finally. And I believe I’ve saved the best for last. (Check with your kiddos about the truth of that.) J.K. Rowling once again delights her devoted readers with a new story, The Ickabog, a tale with a cast of quirky characters in an imaginary land, Cornucopia, to be serially released over the next seven weeks. Along with her release of the new-but-also-old-story (you’ll have read on her dedicated website about that twist) she invites her listeners to help her illustrate the story. How fun is that! Students can even choose to submit their illustrations in a competition if they like. 

My hope is that you and your young readers will find some stories and ideas to nosh on together here in these various digital offerings. As we come to the close of this odd school term, I want to wish you all my best in these uncommon days.  

Yours,

Shelly

The Future Comes Into Focus

Optimism
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs—all this resinous, unretractable earth.
Jane Hirschfield

Dear Arbor Families,

There is no question that this moment is truly testing our capacity for resilience. Together as parents and teachers we have completed our sixth week of distance learning, all of us reshaping our daily lives to keep our families and our communities healthy while keeping our children moving forward. The degree to which we have been successful in doing so is a testament to the tenacity that each of you has shown. You have been open to the possibilities of this new context and explored them with real energy. And you have been forgiving of the limitations and challenges that are an inevitable part of making such a structural shift. You have supported one another, and those beyond this community, and you have modeled for your children what it means to dig in and work hard in the face of uncertainty. When the light was newly (and suddenly!) blocked in one direction, we came together to turn in another.

While uncertainty continues, some things on the horizon are beginning to come into focus, and we are now able to bring some clarity to our efforts to address the growing tension between physical health and emotional and financial health. Just like our response to the virus, addressing that tension will require a well-thought-out combination of individual and institutional responses. Time and time again, this community has demonstrated the readiness and ability to plan for the whole while considering the individual, and our approach to the remainder of this school year and to the summer and fall will build on that strong foundation.

Foremost in our minds is the desire to keep our community intact, even in the face of the severe impacts of the economic fallout of the pandemic, and to continue to provide the Arbor education that is the reason we have all come together. Years of careful budgeting, the absence of debt, and a budget that does not rely on giving to cover operational expenses, has us well positioned to meet the challenges ahead. Building on that stable foundation, we are revising the 2020-21 budget to redirect funds from discretionary projects and programs toward supporting core educational programs and financial aid, to prioritize our families and faculty. APT is also generously joining us in this process.

In addition to careful financial planning, we are developing plans for the time that we will be able to be on campus together. Just yesterday the State of Oregon released new guidelines that will allow our summer programs to go forward as planned in July, following Oregon Health Authority guidance about group size and personal hygiene protocols. Our beautiful campus and separate buildings set us up well for meeting or exceeding the guidelines provided to us. Once the guidelines move from the draft stage to final form, we will share with you our plans for implementing them across our programs.

With summer programs permitted, the state has given us every reason to believe that we will be in school in September, knowing of course that nothing is certain, but that we should anticipate beginning with many of the same health protocols in place that we will be practicing this summer. Again, we are fortunate to have the staffing, separate buildings, and ample outdoor space to support the small, stable groups and absence of mixing that will protect the continued health of the community. Even as we reimagine how to use our space and materials, we know that there is some likelihood that we will have to return to distance learning for short periods. To prepare for that potential, our faculty continue to have one eye on the fall as they refine their remote-teaching processes this spring. One of the positives in the way we are living now is that it has given us the opportunity to build expertise with educational technology that will continue to be useful to have in our teaching toolboxes.

Resilience, tenacity, persistence -- the traits of the tree turning toward the light are also the traits that have been demonstrated by your children as they have navigated such drastic changes, and the traits that the adults in this community model for them and for one another. While the structure of what we do has had to shift for the time being, Arbor culture persists and gives us just what we need to find our way. I am thankful to be finding that way with all of you and welcome any questions that you may have.

Best,
Peter

Growth Report: April 22 Earth Day

“Bee space” refers to the width of crawl space between the frames of a honeybee hive. Three eighths of an inch is the ideal width. Any wider than a quarter inch, and bees will build more comb to fill the space. If it’s too narrow, they won’t be able to access their precious honey, brood, or pollen storage. We can’t humanly imagine what sheltering in place with forty thousand roommates would feel like, nor could we tolerate crawling through spaces only barely wider than our bodies… but bees have systems, routines and communication methods to smooth their household interactions in those tight spaces. In your own world, what are you building up, and what feels like walls squeezing too tight? To move through difficult situations, it’s sometimes helpful to establish systems, routines, and communication methods just like a honeybee colony. A routine I love is watering tiny baby sprouts in the early morning, and after dinner. I’m watching them lift their little green wings every day. Keeps me an optimist.

Thank you a million times over, APT: your generous funds were poured into the addition of our new honeybee residents! Maybe one day soon they’ll pour back into our open jars in the form of delicious gold. For now, I’m delighted to watch the bees build and explore and expand! 

I spent last week preparing the bee’s space. Tom helped me dig a hole and plop a stump into it, from our big pile of stumps. The next day I raised another stump, five paces west. What a beautiful repurposing of stumps to podiums for the queens’ colonies, no? Steve wanted to use a discarded set of legs to furnish a small table for them. The table surface is ideal for when I go into the hives and need tools within arms reach. 

On Saturday, I drove to NE Portland to pick up the new friends. They were in what’s called a “nuc”: a cardboard box, with five frames of honey and brood (larvae) nearly filled, and the entrance plugged shut.  I brought them to campus, and set them carefully on the stumps. It was important to orient the nuc boxes exactly how I wanted to orient the hives, because the bees would immediately establish a memory of the entrance height and location upon first flight. I unplugged their entrance and watched them tumble out clumsily at first, hover around their new space, and then venture into the orchard! 

On Sunday, I returned to transfer them into hives. There’s a beekeeper saying that goes like this, “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” With utmost patience and intention, I murmured sweet encouragement to the bees as I lifted the lid. There they were, each one with a job to do on a Sunny Sunday afternoon. I gently blew my breath along the tops of the frames, and watched them shudder away from the breeze, and away from where I needed to pinch and lift the frame. I went slow, so the bees could see my hands coming, or feel the gentle nudge, and they moved away. I lifted frame after frame, slowly and carefully so as not to squish or “roll” any of the bees. Some were heavy with honey, others lighter with capped brood comb. I met one of the queens! I practically squealed when I spotted her, and begged Ella to come just a little closer to take a photo. Can you see her?

The hives are tucked along the meadow’s northern treeline, looking across tall grass toward the orchard. And my, the colonies are vigorous! All these sunny days have allowed them to forage endlessly on maple, apple and cherry blossoms. Campus is in full bloom, as if flowery fireworks are exploding in celebration! Wooohoo yay Spring!

Juniors, check out the camas blooming around Junior pond! Do you remember teaching me about the Kalapuya as we planted bulbs with Peter?

How about the potatoes that your Oregon Trail settler-selves tucked into the garden beds? They are now sprouting and growing thick, fuzzy leaves. Look at them in the sun, after a thorough watering:

Today, April 22, is Earth Day. Feliz día de la Tierra. The Willamette Valley is completely saturated today-- it’s what our Earth likes best, I guess. Also in honor of Earth Day, Karen (mother of Zoe and Juna) messaged me about their family’s worm-bin project! They’re embarking on a very awesome food-decomposition journey. AND their project has inspired me to lob the opportunity up for all of you! Perhaps you’ll consider an Earth-regeneration project of your own. Composting is a great way to “recycle” whatever the dirt gifts us, back into a whole new dirt! Provided the ideal environment, and with ample time, your food scraps and yard waste can re-gift you AGAIN with fresh, living soil to create garden beds, or plant trees in, or throw into the woods to boost the native growth there… who cares, it’s all awesome!

Here’s a link to a helpful OSU Extension resource on choosing a compost system for your space and your lifestyle.

Karen, Zoe and Juna chose the worm bin-- what will you choose?? If you already have a compost system that works for you, or if you’re ready to try something new, share photos and experiences in the Arbor’s Community Album. (See Friday Footnotes for link!)

That’s all for now, folks! Sending plenty of optimism and Luna Love!

Distance Learning at Arbor

Dear Arbor Community, While we look forward to the time that we can gather on campus, I would like to share a bit about how Arbor has worked to help limit the spread of the coronavirus and how we plan to continue, in response to the questions some of you have posed.

Our community response began at the end of February, when the Arbor Parent Teacher association organized a weekend classroom sanitizing work party. To kick off what was to be a heightened awareness of the need for the repeated sanitization of high-touch surfaces, parents and teachers spent a Sunday afternoon working through each classroom. We then worked to maintain that standard by organizing students and teachers to address all of those surfaces every day, before school and at the midday break, with parents continuing to pitch in. Doing so raised student awareness of the need to take hand washing seriously and also gave them something real and comforting to do in response to the news they were hearing. As we moved into March, we took additional structural steps as a school. We suspended all-school gatherings and cross-grade lessons so that students were interacting only with their own classmates. We also restructured the end-of-unit classroom celebrations to which we typically invite parents and grandparents. Instead, students took portfolios of work home with a plan to host an individual celebration of all that they had accomplished -- not the same as sharing work in the context of the group, but still a means to honoring effort and engagement.

In the second week of March, as it became clear that social distancing was going to be an important tool in fighting Covid-19, we made the decision that we would close school beginning Monday, March 16, one week before our scheduled two-week Spring Break, and we didn’t mind at all when the governor made the same decision for the state a couple of days later.

With that decision made, our teachers began to pivot from the relationship-based experiential learning that is at the heart of an Arbor education to a distance learning model which, by its nature, necessitates at least some time on the computer each day. Over a long weekend, teachers familiarized themselves with the tools of Google Classroom and Zoom, and began to craft lessons that would give our students some of the structure and routine that they need, as well as an ongoing sense of connection to their classmates and school community.

After a week of teaching and learning this way, we surveyed our parent community in order to understand how what we were offering was working at home, and then we said a virtual farewell to our students for Spring Break. During the hiatus from teaching, faculty worked in teams, virtually, to adjust their curricula to respond to the student experience of that first week and to the feedback from parents.

Monday, April 6, we rolled out new tools and new plans aimed at reducing the amount of time in front of the screen for each student while increasing the degree to which students can work independently of the grownups in their house -- a potentially positive byproduct of this time at home. We recalibrated the number of hours that we expect each student to be directly engaged in class work each day, and offered parents a choice of whether to have their children involved directly in synchronous lessons or whether asynchronous options would be a better choice for their family. As appropriate at each grade level, we now offer a mix of written and recorded lessons that can be accessed at any time, and live lessons and posted office hours so that students can get the support they need as they work. Each class is also using Zoom to hold daily meetings to maintain connections and to have some fun together. While we work to offer engaging lessons and to provide feedback that keeps students moving forward academically, we also encourage our families to adapt what we are offering to their particular context.

With teachers as parents also working from home, we understand the challenges. At this writing, our distance learning program is well-launched but we will continue to learn from the feedback that we get from our families. Just as when we are teaching children in our classrooms, we remain open to learning more and to adjusting what we do to respond to the students in front of us, and we continue to look for the ways in which we can keep curiosity and kindness at the center of what we do.

With Oregon schools now required to teach remotely for the remainder of the school year, we are embracing this new context, knowing that for all of the limitations of distance learning, there are opportunities too -- for teachers developing facility with digital tools and for students developing independence and self-reliance in their approach to learning.

As we have responded to this health crisis, the strength of our community has been an asset, pulling together even while staying apart, and we remain hopeful that we will be back on campus for our summer programs and that we will be able to welcome you face-to-face!

Wishing you the best of health in these challenging times, Peter

Visiting Author Coming to Arbor in April

We are happy to announce that award-winning author, Deborah Hopkinson, will spend the day here at Arbor on Tuesday, April 28!  Thanks to the generous grant funding by APT Hopkinson will share her work with students and teachers and guide our young storytellers in writing activities. While we eagerly await our special day with Deborah, here in the library we will be reading through many of her over 50 books for young people, through story time and reading groups. 

Hopkinson conjures the voices of the past for young readers. She writes of human triumphs and tragedies bringing the past to life through the use of vivid description, swift storytelling, and in some cases, masterfully interwoven real-life photographs and quotations. Her works ask readers to take notice, make sense of, and be inspired by our histories in light of the world today. 

Our public libraries keep Hopkinson’s books in heavy rotation, so you can enjoy checking them out from your local branch. Both picture books and full length titles are linked here at the Multnomah County Library, the Washington County LIbrary Services, and the Libraries in Clackamas County. You can also peruse readers’ review of others of Deborah’s books on goodreads. 

Here is a small sampling of Deborah’s books with Goodreads quick links:

We will provide an opportunity for families to purchase from a menu of Deborah’s titles in advance of her April visit. Look out for the book order form that will be available after spring break.

Thanks again, APT board, for making it possible for Deborah to share and work with our kiddos. We are ever grateful!

Shelly

New Books for Adults

The Arbor Center for Teaching (ACT) Library (found on the top floor of the Juniors building) holds over 4000 volumes for teachers and parents to borrow. Topics included in the library offerings include teaching and learning mathematics; reading; digital literacies and technology; writing; diversity, equity & inclusion; family life; dealing with trauma; educational history and philosophy; among other related topics. 

Check out these latest additions to the collection! 

Comprehensible and Compelling: The Causes and Effect of Free Voluntary Reading, Stephen Krashen, a giant in the field of reading, offers his latest title on the power of pleasure reading, published in 2018.

Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers, Jo Boaler connects neuroplasticity, growth mindset, the importance of struggle, a multidimensional approach to teaching and learning, the development of flexibility and creativity, and the power of collaboration. Yep, all that rolled together!

Deviced: Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital World written by Portland's own Doreen Dodgen-Magee. This research-based book provides a thoughtful framework for integrating technology into our lives, with implications for how we talk with kids about their own tech use. 

Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style  Fresh, sassy and erudite, Benjamin Dreyer is considered by many to have penned the 21st-century Elements of Style.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahesi Coates. I'm guessing this book needs no introduction. But just in case...here is a father's long beautifully woven letter to his son about African American history, the current crisis in America's race relations, and hopeful imaginings for the future. 

So You Want to Talk About Race by Kjeoma Oluo. Maybe you've heard about this title too. Oluo explores the current racial landscape in the US and its history and provides concretes moves dismantling it.  

Arbor Eyes

When my daughter Amelia was a New Hand Junior one of her classmates was a boy who was new to the school. After school one day I asked her how he was adjusting. “Well, she began, “he doesn’t have his Arbor eyes yet.” Intrigued, I asked her to elucidate. “He looks for the bad in people instead of looking for the good.”

The notion of “Arbor Eyes” is central to our social curriculum. We as teachers try to see the best in our students, highlighting their strengths in all domains - intellect, character, creativity. Like plants, kids grow toward the light, thriving on “just right” challenges, opportunities, and experiences that help to strengthen their sense of self.

Because they are just kids, a lot of these skills are explicitly taught and woven into the fabric of our day. Whether it’s learning how to hold the door open for the person coming in behind you, thinking of a clever and friendly way to greet the Librarian, learning how to give supportive comments, or being the first person to say “Thank you,” when a piece of paper is handed to you, we’re intentionally developing courtesy in hopes that it will become part of the students’ muscle memory.

Sometimes the lessons are better taught through role modeling and the Denners always get a kick out of seeing us behaving poorly. Just this week we demonstrated the difference between accidentally and intentionally bumping into someone. Tone of voice and extending an invitation to a friend have been other situations that have been modeled.

One of the most notable things about my conversation with Amelia was the fact that she said, “yet.” She was hopeful that her new classmate would come to see the best in others and we too are eternally hopeful and endeavor to instill this optimism in our students.

Lori Pressman
Primary Teacher