Beginnings

I've always loved the promise of a new school year.  When I was in school myself, a new lunchbox, boxes of pencils, a new backpack, and meeting my teacher were enough to propel me into a new school year with excitement and anticipation.  These days it's the Parker students who have me eager to get to work each day.  I'm filled with hope as I watch them get off of the bus or say good bye to parents as they walk down the hall, ready to greet their friends and start their day. We've been in school now for only 11 days (8 if you went to Camp Chingachgook!) and children of every age are learning to adjust to a new school year.  With that adjustment, our Parker kids are learning to be flexible, trust themselves, and take risks.

The first few weeks of school are filled with risks.  All of us, from the PreK student to the most experienced teacher, feel this. Our children have to navigate a new set of routines, manage new personality dynamics, make friends, keep friends, decipher the emotional tone of their new class, and figure out where they fit within this new community. Taking acceptable risks when steering through all of this can be daunting. Grown-ups can put it into words, “What if I fail?” Children usually aren’t able to put it so succinctly.

In the classroom and beyond, a child chooses whether or not these risks are worth it:

• Waiting for a teacher to call on them 
• Calling out the answers 
• Speaking up for their own rights (i.e. I don’t like this game. I want to play something different.) 
• Asking to go to the bathroom 
• Saying goodbye to a parent 
• Raising a hand during class 
• Drawing a picture 
• Joining a group or single friend in play 
• Reading aloud to a classmate 
• Crossing the monkey bars or rings on the playground

We want our children to be comfortable taking the risks that promote growth. It is for this reason that we create an environment that welcomes mistakes, experiments, discussion, and observation. All of the children at Parker are capable of great things. We want to make sure they are willing to build the attempts to get them there.

I'm hopeful for a fabulous year ahead.  Our school is filled with amazing children and teachers who are taking risks together, one day at a time.