Thursday, February 25, 2016

Inspiration All Around



 Every day at Dryden, I am constantly inspired by our students, staff and families. 


This past Wednesday was World Read Aloud Day. The purpose of this day was to bring global attention to the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories. I was so inspired to see how much our students treasured reading and were so thankful for all the wonderful books we have available in our school. 


It was incredibly inspiring to see our fifth grade students reading aloud to their kindergarten buddies. 


The fifth grade students brought their favorite books from when they were in kindergarten, and carefully selected books they thought their buddies would enjoy.


PTA Book Clubs are underway! It is so inspiring to see so MANY parent volunteers and students sharing their love of books and poetry during the lunch recess hour. 


Our Caring Club and friends from the Moorings inspire me to no end. This week they came together to share some good books and play a fun game of BINGO. 




What a most pleasant surprise to receive a visit from a most inspirational former teaching colleague this week! I learned that the children of my friend, Margaret, once attended Dryden. What a small world! Margaret was an LMC Director when I was a classroom teacher. She constantly inspired me and pushed me to take on new challenges in my career. Together with other teachers we planned and implemented young author conferences and colonial day festivals. What fond memories we shared!


The creativity, courage and passion of all of the students, parents and staff who participated in last week's PTA Variety Show was incredibly inspirational. I am so proud of every student who performed. I hope the students' Variety Show experiences inspire them to continue working at and sharing their passions and creativity with others. 


The courageous and fun-loving personality of our staff always inspires me! I love how they stepped out of their comfort zone and learned a new dance to entertain and show their support for our students and families at the Variety Show. They certainly are a staff of many talents! 



Friday, February 19, 2016

#PrideInDryden

Wow! Everywhere I go, I see students taking great pride in their learning!
This student is recording a description of a room she designed for math class. Everything is to scale, and she has carefully figured the dimensions, area and perimeter. She said she loves this math project because she feels like an architect!

It was a pleasant surprise to walk into this classroom to find a group of students who decided to write cards to the kindergarten students to tell them what a great job the kindergarteners did with morning announcements this week. How kind and caring!

This student was so proud to share the results of his science investigation with me when he tested how acetone affects styrofoam. Now, he is very curious about how acetone affects other materials, and has developed a list of items to test in the future. It is truly "wonder-full" that our students have opportunities to explore and research their own questions and interests. 

The students in this class were taking detailed notes about the history of Native Americans in Illinois. They were using a "jigsaw" method, where small groups of students become experts about specific topics, and then share what they learn with the rest of the class. What great team work!

Friday, February 12, 2016

A Caring Community

With Valentine's Day this month, February is the perfect month to focus on friendship and caring. 


The older students in our school are caring role models for our younger students. Here we have some fourth grade librarians caring for kindergarten students by reading to them.


We even have a Caring Club at Dryden. Students wrote welcome cards with caring and reassuring messages to give to all new students who come to Dryden. 


Our Caring Club cares about critters, too! They made bird houses and hung them in the courtyard.



 We are also fortunate to have many caring adults in our community. Teachers, parents and volunteers work together to bring out the wonder and curiosity of our students and instill a lifelong love of learning.  They are true role models of caring. 


Happy Valentine's Day! 

Friday, February 5, 2016

Fabulous, Fantastic Fun at Family Reading Night & Futabakai


There was such a great turnout of Dryden families and staff Thursday evening for Family Reading Night. Students came to school dressed in their pajamas and got to listen to staff read their favorite picture books throughout the evening. It was a wonderful opportunity to visit different classrooms and spend time with family and friends. 









There was even a station where students combined paper-folding and their creative ideas to make their own personalized bookmarks.



Afterwards, everyone gathered in the gym for one final bedtime story and snack. It was such a treat to read to all of them! What a great audience!


Another special opportunity was the open house held by the Futabakai Japanese School in Arlington Heights this past Sunday. Many of the Dryden students who have been involved in the partnership class this year participated in this special event. Japanese arts, crafts, games, food and special traditions were available for all to experience.







Being able to participate with my son made this visit extra special. On our way home I asked him what he thought it would be like if our schools had an open house to teach others about "American" culture. In my mind I was initially imagining "baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and...". However, my son replied that he was thinking of an open house with all the different cultures of the world represented because that's what America is made of. He made a great point! How fortunate we are to be able to have such rich and rewarding multicultural experiences all around us!