Student "Where-With-All"

As the NY Mets won the Eastern Division Championship, commentators praised Willie Randolph for having had the "where-with-all" to get there. Listening, I thought about what qualifies as "where-with-all" in the realm of student performance. What exactly are those qualities that allow students to meet challenges head-on, persevere in the face of adversity and take personal risks?

The short answer is their belief in process – in working step by step toward a resolution, their belief in strategizing – approaching work from more than one vantage point, and their belief in themselves – trusting that their own efforts will be appropriately valued.

Students in our Lower School expect the road to mastery to be made up of many steps and component parts. They may begin with a "seed idea", an estimate or basic sketch, and then backtrack, revising and editing, computing more fully or adding color and detail. As children move through the grades and grow better able to extend their work over time, these stages become more complex and fulfilling.

Where-with-all also reflects a child’s ability to strategize, to choose one approach over another in the interests of accuracy and efficiency. Teachers ask, "How else could you solve that?" "What else could we put here?" "Is there another way to find out?", urging students to expand their problem solving techniques. In large measure, students also learn from each other as they brainstorm ideas, compare hypotheses and assess outcomes.

Finally, where-with-all is about having the confidence to share your personal views, ideas and renderings knowing that these will be different from your classmates’. An especially beautiful example of this hangs in our main hallway – a collection of Fourth Grade paintings of an arrangement of sunflowers. Although painted from observation, each of these is different from one another. Some students focused on faithfully representing what they saw, others were inspired by more playful interpretations they’d seen in example from Van Gogh and Georgia O'Keefe. Some flowers appear to be a family; another is drawn from "a bee’s perspective". As art teacher Ann Schaumburger notes, "All art is autobiographical"; this may be particularly so at LREI where a teacher’s questions open the door for creativity.

As students and teachers discuss goals for the year, plotting out the weeks and months ahead, let’s not forget that the oft elusive quality of "where-with-all" resides in all our students, just waiting to be tapped.

Elaine

Reminders:

1. Please do not allow your child to bring valuables into school as these can be easily misplaced or lost. Pokemon cards and other trading items should also remain at home.

2. I hope you will make every effort to attend your child/ren’s Curriculum Meetings. Parents of Second through Fourth Graders will meet at 6PM on Thursday, September 28th, and parents of Fours through First Graders on Thursday, October 5th. As always, we will post a childcare sign-up sheet at the front desk. This year, Specialist teachers will be on hand to meet informally with parents beginning at 5:30PM in the auditorium.

3. Family Handbooks were sent home on Wednesday of this week. Please contact Kate Greathead (Kgreathead@LREI.org) if you did not receive a copy. I encourage you to read through your handbook, paying special attention to Pp. 11 and 12 and 17 through 19.


This Week's Attachments:

Diane and Lisa's Early Kindergarten

Luise and Julia's Kindergarten

Tasha and Romy's Schedule

Suzanne and Caroline's Fourth Grade


Announcements:

From the PA Co-Presidents--Thank you to all who have completed the parent survey for LREI's 10-year reaccreditation process. Your responses are very helpful to us as we prepare the Parent Association's section of the self-study. By popular request, we will continue to accept responses through the end of the month.

Click Here to access the NYSAIS survey.


In the Next Few Weeks...

9/28- 8:45- Parent Rep Meeting

9/28- 6PM- 2nd-4th Grade Curriculum Meeting

9/29- 8AM- LGSA Parent Welcome Breakfast 6th Ave

10/2- Yom Kippur School Closed

10/3- Suzanne and Caroline's 4th Grade Class Farm Trip

10/5- 6PM 4s- 1st Grade Curriculum Meeting

10/6- Suzanne and Caroline's 4th Grade Returns from Farm Trip

10/9- Columbus Day: School Closed

10/10- Gwen and Thomas' 4th Grade Class Farm Trip

10/13- Gwen and Thomas' 4th Grade Class Farm Trip Returns

10/16- Photo Day

10/17- Chap and Meredith's 3rd Grade Farm Trip

10/19- 8:45- Parent Rep Meeting

10/20- Chap and Meredith's 3rd Grade Class Farm Trip Returns

10/23- Photo Day (raindate)

10/24- Kelly and Ayanna's 3rd Grade Class Farm Trip

10/25- 8:45- 2nd Grade Assembly

10/27- Kelly and Ayanna's 1st Grade Class Trip Returns

10/29- Halloween Fair