On a Mission
12/16/2017
At PNA, our mission is to "educate students to be exceptional learners and independent thinkers of vision, courage, and integrity." Our kindergartners have vision in spades, As we planned our parent event, I was impressed by their initial vision, which involved a pretty elaborate cardboard and paper train that would have wrapped around our tables and served the hot chocolate and treats. I was even more impressed by their willingness and ability to adapt their vision due to time and material constraints (another important lesson in and of itself). "Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." - Jonathan SwiftVision is sometimes a tricky thing to navigate. I continue to learn, with the help of your little ones, that it is best tempered with flexibility and perhaps a grain of salt. At the end of the day, the parent event did not turn out how I had envisioned it would in a lot of ways. 2:00 arrived and messes were left untidied, the train and winter wonderland effect was not as magical as I had hoped, and needed supplies remained scattered about the room in caddies instead of organized on tables into the cute containers I had brought for the occasion. This is where the grain of salt comes in - and the unintentional lesson from your little ones. As the event unfolded, no one seemed to notice the little imperfections I mentioned above, or if they did, they did not care. Laughter filled the air, families poured over photos and hand-drawn ornaments together, and students enjoyed indulging in too many treats and treating the temporary room arrangement as an obstacle course. The fact that the supplies were not on the tables or that the room was not as tidy as usual did not, in fact, ruin the event. It actually provided students with the opportunity to practice the problem solving and independence we have been developing all year. I was busy chatting with a parent and did not get out the necessary supplies, but the kindergartners quickly grabbed glue, markers, tape, and the stapler and set to work on their projects without wasting any time. The event, although not as "perfect" as we had planned, was a pretty perfect picture of our classroom: messy at times, but wonderful and full of fun, laughter, growth, and enjoying time together. In the end, our vision of celebrating our families and sharing how they have changed was realized, even if it did not look exactly like we thought it would. Overall, it was a huge success and we enjoyed sharing our classroom with you, learned a lot about our families from primary sources, and had so much fun during the process of planning it. Vision was not the only piece of PNA's mission that stood out to me as I reflected on our week. I was impressed with our sweet little ones' courage this week as well, perhaps even more than their vision and flexibility. "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." - Nelson MandelaWhen I told our kindergartners that we would be presenting our zoo project to the entire school, they did not want to do it. "Too scary," they said. I confessed that I was really scared to stand up in front of the entire school, too, but that I was excited to share their project because they had worked so hard and had done such a wonderful job on it. Ultimately, we decided we could all be brave together. I am so proud of each and every one of them. Even those that did not want to speak stood up in front of the school with us. And those that did speak? They blew me away. They looked at the audience and explained our project well and with loud, clear voices. This project was truly a wonderful experience, and although it was a bit stressful to be the featured project at the PBL unveiling, it was also an honor. Seeing our little ones find the courage to present their project to the entire school, cut the ribbon, their excitement when they saw the display and the way they answered questions about their project made it worth it. If you missed the unveiling, please have your little one walk you through the display. It will be up until break, and I promise you will not be disappointed. They worked extremely hard on this project and did an absolutely amazing job on it.
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Saania AliMs. Ali graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. She specializes in Early Childhood Education, ESL, and Special Education. Her hobbies include traveling, reading, and painting! Archives
April 2021
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