Happy First Day of School!

We had a tremendous first day!  It was so lovely to put faces with the names on my class list.  At the end of the day today, we had a "Setting of Intentions."  We started by talking about why we go to school in the first place.  These are the ideas that came up:

• Our parents can't have us at our house all day (they don't want to homeschool us).
• so we can learn so we can get jobs
• we like learning
• so there's  a place to learn how to be a teacher
• to learn
• to get smarter
• to be challenged
• to be inspired
• to be interested in things
• to make friends and play
• to learn about things you never knew you could learn
• to solve problems (school problems and friend problems)

The conversation then moved to why school matters to each individual student, to why each individual student comes to school (looking beyond the legal obligation, that is).  We talked about the word "intention," that it means a plan to act a certain way.  Then each student set his or her intention for the year by answering the question, Why do you go to school?  Why does school matter to you?  The responses will guide their actions during the months to come.  Here are their responses:





"I am here because school helps you learn to be smart and helpful and be your best.  School matters to me because before you grow up and get a job you want to go to school and learn a little bit about what to do."


"I'm here because if I get a job when I grow up I might need to read, write and do math."


"I am here because if you don't go to school it affects your life.  At school you learn to write, read and how to do math.  If you give a math problem to a kid who had never been to school he would just think, 'What does this mean?'  So school affects the rest of your life."


"I'm here because I like to learn.  It's fun being with your friends.  The teachers are nice, and my sister went here and she wanted me to come."


"I'm here because I want to learn about history.  I like history because it's amazing what life was like in different times.  School matters to me because I really want to learn.  School is sort of the future of people's lives."


"I am here because I need education so someday I can have my own job and my own family."


"I'm here because I like math and adding numbers."


"I go to school because I need to know this stuff to be a musician."


"I'm here because I need to learn, because if I did not I would do nothing in my life."


"I'm here because I want to be a sports player and if I go to school I might be a sports player and because I love school it's fun and I just love it."


"I"m here so I could learn things so when I group up I can be smart and have a good job.  Or so I can have a good education to become a smarter person."


"I'm here because I must learn.  Therefore I will be successful.  Also I can meet new people and make new friends so I can also have good friends in life.  I can also learn in specials to be creative and have fun."


"I'm here because you need to learn math, reading, art, science, writing and gym."


"I'm here because I want to learn so that I can go to college and learn about a job and then have a job where I get paid enough money so that I can take care of myself so I don't have to live with my parents for the rest of my life."


"I'm here because I want to meet new friends and become a better person and student.  School matters because if you get a job the owner can look at your application."


"I am here so I can learn, be responsible and be mature, so when I grow up I can be very smart."


"I'm here because if I don't come here, I wouldn't have any friends or jobs for the future, and it's just better than watching TV at home."


"I am here because everything affects another thing.  Grammar school leads to middle school which leads to high school and then to college.  College gets you where you can be independent, get a job, start a family where it's your life and your parents aren't there to tell you what to do."


"I'm here because I like learning in social studies and history.  I find history extraordinary, and math for solving problems, etc."


"I'm here because I like to learn about how to make a story on a sheet of paper.  And to learn math and learn how to do a math equation correctly.  And learn about the past, and to make new friends every year!  And I love to just write in my writer's journal and think of poetry and just write a letter."


"I am here because I want to get a good education to go to a good middle school to go to a good high school to go to a good college to have a good life."


Such forward thinkers, these fourth graders.  Enjoy the pictures of the knot game below.  Delightful weekends all around!