How are my kids doing?

**Sorry I am a little late with my Monday morning musings...still recovering from turkey and stuffing overload!

Principal ponderings...
My parents drove up from Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with us.  Throughout their stay with us, my mother continually wanted to know "how are you?", "everything going well?", "are you doing ok?"  I talk on the phone with my mother pretty regularly, but she still likes to be able to have a face to face conversation and actually see how I am doing.  I am reminded that no matter how old I get, I will always be her child and she will always want to know how I am doing.  This made me think about our upcoming parent conferences this week.  On Wednesday and Thursday, your days will be filled with many scheduled slots of time.   Lots of moms and dads searching for the answer to the same question..."how are my kids doing?"

I know that it will be long days and you will be tired by the end of the conferences and you will never really have enough time to share everything.  Just remember that your students' parents have one concern.  Just like my mother during this past holiday visit, they want to make sure that their children are doing well.  They want to make are that their children are learning and growing, and they want to hear it from you, the teacher, directly, face to face.  So even though you might be tired and you might feel like you will lose your voice from so much talking...remember that they are parents who only care about their child and want wants best for them.  They are trusting you with their most special possession.  Share with them all the wonderful learning and growth that is happening in your classrooms with their children.  Let them know how their kids are doing.

Currently reading:
Over the holiday break, I read a great historical fiction book called Out of the Dust.  It is a novel about the Dust Bowl that is written in a free verse format.  Thanks Dianna for recommending it to me!  I have started the book Breadcrumbs, written by the same author who wrote The Real Boy.

Events this week:
**Please join me in welcoming Jean Fitzpatrick to our school.  Jean will be Anne Marie's maternity sub for the rest of the year.  I am sure everyone will make her feel welcome.

Wednesday - Early release day, evening conferences, PTA providing dinner for the teachers beginning at 4:15
Thursday - Early release day, afternoon conferences
Saturday - Holiday Fair at the Middle School, 10:00-2:00
Holiday concert schedule:
4th grade: 10:30
1st grade: 11:15
3rd grade: 12:00
2nd grade and multi-age: 12:45
Kindergarten: 1:30

Great things I noticed last week:

• Mr. Rider's class got into the spirit Wednesday morning doing "The Continental Drift"!  Even after the craziness of a morning with no power...it was great to see students starting their day dancing.  Thanks Kristen and Patti for teaching the dance in gym class. (I tried to upload a video clip but it seems to not be working today.)
• Mrs. Clark's class was making a class list of things they were thankful for in order to create a class poem.  They even let me add my thoughts!
• 2 students from Mrs. Riley' class visited me in my office and showed me that they were making butter in their class.  They even demonstrated their shaking method and counted to 30 in Chinese for me.  Again, had a video clip to share but having technical difficulties today!

Check it out:
Here's some resources for parent teacher conferences :)
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/parent-teacher-conference-resources-matt-davis