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January 15, 2008
Happiness
There is happiness when each moment is used in a worthwhile way. Happiness is such nourishment that it can transform a person from weak into powerful. It makes difficult things easy and heavy things light. To remain happy and share happiness with others is a great act of charity. No matter what happens, my happiness should not be lost.
Hi North Beach Families,
It has been a busy start to our New Year. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and were able to spend much needed time with families and friends.
Our new year started off with a wonderful evening of math. Thank you to everyone who made math night such a creative event for students. I really enjoyed the estimation of the jelly beans and watching the kids guess the number of times the magnets swung back and forth.
Coming up this week is our PTA general meeting. I know various topics of interest will be discussed so please join us Thursday the 17th at 7 pm.
We are beginning to plan for our Martin Luther King the Civil Rights Movement. We would like to ask them to be a part of a panel and/or small group discussion on the day we hold our assembly. Our goal this year is to work with students on how they are change agents for our world just as Martin Luther King was. As you know, Monday the 21st is a day off from school but a day on for celebrating this mans work to achieve equality in our country. If you, a family member or friend can share what it was like during this time, please contact me at 252-1510.
This month we are working on our virtue of Happiness. Our kick-off assembly was a good one. We are trying to incorporate the virtues into our daily lives. If you ever want to join us the assemblies are on the first Thursday of every month at 2:30. Students sometimes do skits or songs or read poems. This is a wonderful way to put the learning in to the student’s hands. Talking about the virtue of the month at home is also helpful. A possible discussion could be generating their own secret for giving happiness. Students could also talk about actions at home that give happiness to members of their family.
I want to thank all of you for the support you have given North Beach staff with our drop off policy. As January year began, it felt calmer and much safer. Our next Friday Social after drop off will be the 25th. I will provide hot chocolate, those of you planning to join, bring a breakfast treat! We are currently working on the pick up policy and wanted to give you plenty of lead time before we begin the practice. Starting February 4th, we will begin having Kindergarteners dismissed 5 minutes earlier out the south doors by the Kindergarten classrooms. We are asking that families wait outside the doors until students are dismissed unless there is a downpour. When kids are dismissed, feel free to come on inside that part of the hallway. Teachers will be taking turns supervising the students in Kindergarten who take the bus in the same area. Grades 1-5 families picking up students will be asked to wait outside (again unless it is pouring rain) at the front or north doors until the bell rings at 3:15 We understand that these are changes and change is always stressful. Why are these changes being instituted you ask? SAFETY. Those of you picking up your child have seen the chaos and feel the tension as our youngest students weave their way through the foyer in the afternoons. We need to practice safety to teach safety to our students. This is NOT by any means a way to keep our families out, these are just good practices to keep students safe. We love our North Beach Families, we appreciate all the work you do for North Beach Kids and mostly we love the community we have all created here. Communities need structure and that is what we are trying to build.
On this day of days when we honor the man who so peacefully modeled change, I leave you with these words from a book titled Oh Freedom by Casey King and Linda Barrett Osborne. Forward by Rosa Parks. “To live is to have stories. In sharing them, we give a part of ourselves, a part of our lives, to others. I can’t think of anything more important to teach young people today than this: that ordinary people working together can change history. They can look for a new Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks or Malcolm X to tell them how to make a difference-but they cal also look in the mirror. That is the message we need to give our young people.”
Peace and Happy New Year
Joanne Bowers
North Beach Principal