PLE Crew,
I hope you all have had a great week back. I apologize for being out. A stomach bug got my family and put us in bed for a few days. I am very excited for what we have planned for the third quarter and our students are already working hard to continue to build on the foundation from 1st semester. I was in a kindergarten class today that was so excited to talk about technology and how it changes and improves our living conditions. They worked on CVC words and sight words and practiced using the letter “Bb.” There was so much joy in the classroom that was focused on learning and exploring how language works.
Our Sources of Strength team is also launching one of their campaigns. We will be working together with each class in the school to string together a paper chain that symbolizes our connectedness and that together, as a whole Crew, we are stronger. Each grade will have a different portion of the Sources of Strength Wheel to focus upon. Here is an example of some of the work our Sources of Strength team has done to lead this effort: 2nd Grade Video - Positive Friends. Great job demonstrating Pine Lane Leadership! And a huge thank you to our counselors for their efforts.
I’d also like to highlight a rising concern that we have that parallels a national trend. We are seeing rising mental health concerns that anecdotally seem to be connected to social media and the constant connectedness of our society. While many of our students are actually underage for many social media apps, we are finding students as young as our kindergartners who are active on these platforms. Here are a couple of thought-provoking links on how our smartphones and social media are rewiring our brains and changing our behaviors: Hooked on Your Phone and Why Experts worry TikTok could add to mental health crisis among US teens? I’d encourage you to find time to discuss with your family what you want your boundaries to be in regards to smart device use and social media and work toward creating opportunities that promote the ability to persevere on longer term goals and delay gratification. I thought these reports were thought-provoking and worthy of reflection.
Also, remember that next week on Wednesday, January 18th, we will hold our next SAC/PTO meeting. This will be held in person in the Innovation Lab, we will also stream the meeting via google meets. Linked here is the agenda for our meeting.
Have a wonderful weekend!!!
Chris Stairs
Principal