Sunday, December 11, 2016

Gifts That Bring Wonder and Joy

We enjoyed the first big snow of the season! It was a joy to see the children trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues and examine the crystals up close as the snowflakes landed on their mittens. A lot of teamwork went into building snowmen and snow forts during recess. Their sense of wonder and joy during the first snows of winter never ceases to make me smile. 


Believe it or not, there was a similar sense of wonder and joy inside the school building, too. In this class students enthusiastically worked together to design, construct, test and improve vessels to transport water, given limited materials. This was a wonderful science experiment that connected to the students' study of the migration of Native Americans across different regions in Social Studies. They made powerful connections as they imagined what it must have really been like for the Native Americans of long ago. 





The possibilities we are learning through coding are really capturing our sense of wonder and joy as well! All of our classes participated in the Hour of Code this week. LMC Director Mrs. O'Kelly has shared some wonderful resources that you may like to access to continue the coding challenge and fun: http://drydenlmc.weebly.com/coding.html



Oh, and possibly my favorite gift of all... BOOKS! We were treated to a special visit from librarians of the Arlington Heights Memorial Library department of youth services. They brought many books and talked about their storylines which inspired our students to check them out to read in the classroom and at home. We are so fortunate to have such great resources and book lovers to nurture our students' love of reading. 



For many, 'tis the season of giving and receiving presents. However, just looking around, some of the very best gifts are right in front of our eyes... and they bring us so much wonder and joy!

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Learning with Purpose


It's always inspiring to see how learning expands beyond our classrooms at Dryden. We were thrilled to welcome fourth-grade students from Futabakai Japanese School this week. They spent the day with Mr. Noltner's class. It was great to see the children communicating, sharing and learning together. Here they worked in teams to see who could build the tallest tower out of pipe cleaners. 


District Technology Director Chris Fahnoe, School Resource Officer Rick Veenstra and Dryden Technology Facilitator Grace Frantz helped many parents learn about digital citizenship and Internet safety. It takes a combination of mentoring and monitoring children, actively learning and participating with them. It's important to be aware of the social-emotional impact their online interactions can have. By maintaining open communication and providing nurturing guidance, we can help our children experience the positive benefits of collaboration, creativity and problem-solving that can happen online. 



Our PTA was recently recognized by the Area Council of PTAs for outstanding membership and programming. We are grateful for the high level of parent involvement and enriching activities the PTA brings to our students and families. 


It's so exciting to see students in charge of their own learning! During this lesson, the teacher could have just quickly told the students the word and what it meant. However, the fact that the students had to work together to figure out the "mystery" word with hints that the teacher provided made it an exciting, fun, purposeful interactive problem-solving activity. 


 These fifth-grade students found a creative purpose for Tangrams. It was a treat to listen to them share their fiction stories and how their Tangram figures transformed as their stories progressed. 



Throughout all grades, our students are finding great purpose in their reading. Third-grade students share that reading inspires them to enjoy their imaginations and helps them calm their minds and learn new things. 


First-grade students have learned that sharing a book and taking turns reading the different parts of different characters can be really fun and make the book come alive! 



Sunday, November 20, 2016

Thankful


As we head into Thanksgiving break, I have been reflecting how grateful I am to be part of an amazing school community who, first and foremost, cares about the well-being of the children we serve and of one another. 




I've also been reflecting on how appreciative and thrilled I am to participate in classrooms where teachers are trying new, innovative teaching practices to empower our students to 
  • collaborate
  • problem-solve
  • innovate
  • express their creativity
  • identify and pursue their curiosities and interests
  • and be genuinely motivated to find, read and discuss high-quality, "just-right" literature. 


This student was so proud of his research and the discoveries he is making about the Periodic Table of Elements through his personalized learning experiences that began last year and are continuing this year. 

These third-grade students were collaborating with Mrs. Kenney in the production of their Solar System research video.
Fourth-grade students researched Native American leaders. They then identified attributes of leaders and connected these attributes to themselves and to leaders in their lives. There were some powerful life lessons to think about during this discussion!

Second-grade students learned about the election process and applied it to fictional characters in the classroom. It was great to see their active involvement and listen to their discussions in weighing the pros and cons of each candidate's campaign agenda. They were being such responsible citizens!




Thanks to PTA Art Volunteers, our students can learn about famous artists and works of art in-depth. We are inspired to think creatively from these wonderful experiences!
The multiage and second-grade musical performance, A Bowl Full of Silly, made us all laugh and smile.
Bravo, second grade!


I am so proud of the Dryden School Community, and I am so thankful for all that this community does to benefit our students. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Sunday, November 13, 2016

All Hands Together

At Dryden, we strongly focus on being a kind and caring community, both within and beyond our school walls. As a caring community, we wanted to express our gratitude to the veterans who have served our country.


We created this flag to honor veterans on Veterans Day. If you look closely you can see that it is made of hand cut-outs. Every student traced and cut out an outline of their hand to make this flag. Like each hand in this flag, every individual who contributed to this flag is unique, very special and has the power to contribute to the goodness of our country. 


All of our students, staff and PTA worked together to welcome and express our gratitude to veterans for their service and sacrifices to protect our freedom, as you can see in the video below. 



Sunday, November 6, 2016

One for the Record Books

Cubs win! Cubs win!
It was an exciting week that ended on a very positive note, with the Chicago Cubs baseball team winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years! We had much to celebrate throughout the week!


With all of our attention and energy focused on cheering on the Cubs, it's hard to believe that our Halloween parade and celebrations were just a few days ago. It was such a beautiful day to be outside walking and crunching through the fall leaves in our creative costumes.


The whole staff joined in on the fun. We dressed up as Waldo and Wenda from the book series, Where's Waldo? If anyone asks you, "Where's Waldo?," you can respond, "At Dryden School!"


We greatly thank the Dryden PTA and many parent volunteers for providing many fun games and crafts for our students at the classroom parties. 



The day after the Cubs won the penant, our first grade students put on an all-star musical performance with music teacher, Mr. Deptula. They showed off many talents by singing, dancing and playing the xylophones. Bravo, First Grade!


On the day of the Cubs Championship Parade, many dads, grandfathers, uncles and caregivers came to Dryden sporting their Cubbie pride and new World Series Champion apparel during our Dads & Doughnuts breakfast. We thank the PTA for providing this special opportunity to welcome so many families to Dryden and start our morning at school together. 




What a week of celebrating! Certainly one for the record books!





Sunday, October 30, 2016

A School with Great Character

 Throughout Character Counts Week, students wrote their names on hearts and added to our Caring Tree to pledge against bullying and promise to be caring to others at Dryden. 


It's great to see our caring grow!

We focused on making healthy choices during the lunch hour. Mrs. Moxley and Student Council tallied the fruits and vegetables students were eating throughout the week. 

At recess, students drew and wrote messages and drew pictures to show their school pride and how
"Character Counts" at Dryden.  









Our students learn so much about good character by the examples set by the adults around them. 

Below is a photo of our lunch supervisors working together to bring in the school lunches one rainy day last week. They always have a positive outlook, and really care about our students!

On that same rainy day, our Facilities Operations Manager, Mr. Bob, was at Dryden very early in the morning to accept a delivery of pumpkins and set up a pumpkin patch to surprise all of our first grade students. He assisted the students in selecting and carrying the heavy, slippery wet pumpkins to their classrooms safely throughout the morning. 





In the classroom, students weighed and measured their pumpkins. 

Many caring adults like Mrs. Riesing and Mrs. Beane volunteered their time to help the students design and carve their pumpkins into creative jack-o-lanterns.

Amidst the excitement of Character Counts Week and pumpkin-carving, our teachers observed demonstration lessons together and participated in valuable professional learning conversations about the teaching of reading. Our teachers love teaching AND learning! 


The film, Movement, created by former Dryden Dolphins under the direction of Art Teacher, Mrs. Fuglestad was featured at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival over the weekend. Their film was presented along with other films created by children from countries all over the world. 



They were honored guests at the Film Festival. After the showing of their film, they were interviewed and answered questions from the audience. 


This weekend also is an important weekend for the Chicago Cubs! Many of our students and staff are cheering them on in the World Series. 


Go, Cubs, Go!