Platte River Elementary Knights: School Family

Jill and I have four children: Anderson (5), Oliver (3), Ellery (1), and Isaiah (6 weeks today). We run our home similar to the way we've always run our classrooms as teachers. There are clear boundaries and plenty of opportunities for everyone. There are organized bookshelves, chalkboards hanging at kid level, a calendar center, storage cubbies for games, drawers with labels such as "Blocks" and "Things with Wheels," a coloring area, a crafts area, a train table, a sand and water table... There's a place for everything and everything goes in its place. Add in the marble jar to encourage and reinforce positive behavior, and factor in the weekly menu that's posted for all of our meals, and quite honestly, our house is just a license away from being a daycare or preschool. Snapshots of a couple spaces in our house:

At this point in our lives, we are solidly in KID MODE. Everything we do revolves around our children. Hold on, now. That does NOT mean that we do whatever our children want. Often times it's quite the opposite. It just means that for every decision Jill and I are faced with on a daily basis, we take our children into account: their safety, nutrition, interests, development, (bedtime), and so on. The thing about all this is...we absolutely love it. We feel enormously blessed and fortunate to have them as a part of our lives. It is a privilege to be their care-takers. It is also a massive responsibility to be their care-takers. It is with that kind of perspective that we approach parenting every day.

I share that same sentiment about my school family. The students we serve at our school are someone else's kids. When families bring their children into our school building, they hand over responsibility for seven hours to us. That's a very big deal! Parents place a lot of trust in our team of teachers, para-pro's, cooks, office workers, custodial staff, mentors, and volunteers, so it's a great honor to then serve them in the ways that we do.

Great things are happening at Betsie Valley
On Tuesday, Magician Bill Gang was a guest at Betsie Valley. He shared with our kids both his love of reading as well as his talent and passion for illusions!

Students in Mrs. Reed's music class enjoyed a preview of the musical, "Annie" that they'll be seeing at the High School Auditorium next week.

Jared and Jen Milarch donated a wonderful hydorponic system to the school. It is being set up in our new learning center for all our students to enjoy.

Friday evening was a generous outpouring of support for Johnna and her family. Many thanks to our PTS, staff, and the entire community for so many contributions and for volunteering at the benefit spaghetti dinner.

Great Websites, Articles and Links

Click HERE to go to a useful and free website called TodaysMeet. It's great for classrooms to encourage participation, incorporate technology, and practice keyboarding skills. When projected onto the screen in the classroom, everyone can read the responses of everyone else in the room.

A Brief Glance at Next Week
Monday: Community Meeting @ 9:30.
Tuesday: PTS meeting 4:30
Wednesday: 2nd-5th Graders go to HS Auditorium for production of "Annie" 9:15.
Thursday: Special Ed Staffing 8am; Behavior Team Meeting 8am; Kirsten Gerbatsch (FoodCorps) will visit classrooms throughout the day; Lockdown Drill at 11am; Preschool Playgroup 9:30-10:45; Chess Club 4pm
Friday: School Improvement Team at TBAISD 8:30am

Do you have any children of your own? Do you need a big laugh? Do you like good, clean standup comedy? Seriously, watch this!