Cole Miners' Dig
December 20, 2024
As we approach the holiday season, I want to take a moment to extend my warmest wishes to each of you and your families. I hope that you all enjoy a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season filled with laughter, love, and joy. May this time bring you peace and rejuvenation as we prepare to welcome the new year together. I am excited about what lies ahead in the coming year and look forward to continuing our journey of learning and growth as a school community. Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership!
Spirit Week was a great success! So many students and staff participated in the dress up days, all adding to the excitement in the air!
The Cole School directories are here! They will be sent home today with the oldest child in the family. Many thanks to the PTO for their work to create them and for finding advertising sponsors that allowed for them to be provided to each family at no cost.
Cole School presented “Building Resilience Through Play and Mindful Habits” at Monday night’s School Committee meeting at Norwell Library. Our student and parent speakers did a fantastic job sharing about the parent book discussion group, the Gaga Pit, and the Big Blue Blocks as part of our work to support our students’ developing social and emotional skills. We still have copies of The Anxious Generation for parents to read if interested. Please contact the office for a copy to borrow.
Thank you to the special education team and the many students that led this month’s Community Meeting on Monday afternoon that was focused on inclusiveness. It was so well done with a poem about unique snowflakes and a wonderful video showing inclusiveness at Cole School.
We are so proud of our Student Government representatives that arrived to school early on Tuesday morning to chalk up the entrance with holiday greetings for all to enjoy! What a wonderful way to spread cheer!
After winter break, we'll be moving on to the next Habit of Mind - Thinking Flexibly. Here is some information for parents to help with the development of this habit taken from habitsofmindinstitute.org.
As parents, we recognize the need for our children to learn how to think flexibly, adapt to new situations, and build their capacity to change their minds when they receive new or additional data. Thinking flexibly is part attitude — our openness to new ideas — and part action — knowing how and when to expand our horizons and use new ideas and information. We want them to know when to think broadly and when to focus on details. When our children are confronted with problems or challenges, we encourage their creative and novel thinking. As they make difficult choices, we want them to consider possible intended and unintended consequences.
How are you helping your child to develop their capacity to think flexibly? For example:
- When your child is “catastrophizing” a minor setback and is saying they want to give up, offer to sit down and analyze what happened and brainstorm ways to make it turn out better next time. It may be helpful to share a story from your own experience and describe how badly you felt at the time and how you eventually were able to see the situation differently.
- When your child is focused only on their perspective, try to have them step back and consider how other people could be affected. How might their words, actions, and ideas make other people feel? This helps them empathize with others feelings, predict how others are thinking, and anticipate potential misunderstandings. They are able to work with people from different cultures and who represent different perspectives recognizing other people’s ways of experiencing and making meaning.
- When your child is stuck on a problem, talk with them about what questions or ideas come to mind when zooming out to see the big picture and what comes to mind when zooming in to see a more detailed view. This “Google Earth” approach encourages more flexible thinking because it takes us beyond our normal range of vision.
- When your child is feeling stuck because of the limitations of rules, criteria and regulations help them generate fresh ideas rather than feeling stuck. Often limitations lead to creativity. It is always helpful to stay positive and consider possibilities rather than focusing on what you do not have. Encourage your child to start with what they have, what they know, and what they are interested in learning more about.
When your child feels confused or uncertain, help them tolerate the ambiguity of the situation. Encourage them to trust their instincts and continue working creatively and productively. Give them the support to take a chance and try something new or different.
Happy Holidays and New Year! On Monday, we had a great Community Meeting about inclusion, and all grades also had Inclusiveness lesson 3 with me. In grade K-2, we learned that "different is not bad" by reading and discussing The Judgmental Flower in kindergarten, All Kinds of Families in Grade 1, and John's Turn in Grade 2. Grade 3 students drew pictures of something that represents them to highlight all of their different talents and strengths. Grades 4 & 5 practiced including themselves by role playing various scenarios (like joining a game, a lunch table, or trying out for a play). We will finish our Inclusiveness unit after break, and then we'll move on to Integrity.
December
December 23 - January 1 - Winter Break
January 2 - School resumes
January 6 - Connections meeting, reading A Little Spot of Flexible Thinking by Diane Alber
January 8 - PTO Meeting 7pm at Cole School Library
January 20 - No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 27 - Community Meeting 2:30pm
January 29 - Early Release Day - all students dismissed at 12:20pm
January 29 - Kindergarten Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)
January 29 - Lunar New Year
Looking Ahead
February 7 - Tentative 100th Day of School (if no snow days)
February 10 - Connections Meeting, reading A Bad Seed by Jory John
February 12 - School Council Meeting 3:30pm
February 14 - Valentine's Day
February 17- February 21 - February Break
February 24 - Community Meeting 2:30pm
