Welcome back to school! Boys and girls, I can't wait to meet you all!! Are you as excited as I am? We are going to have such a great year together. It will take some time getting to know each other, but we will soon become very familiar. While in Room 37, you can expect to enjoy your learning experience, be held accountable for your words and actions, and have compassion for yourself and others. In other words, be a nice, honest person. :)
We begin each day with our class mantra. No need to memorize it; it's posted on all four walls. It is my mission to make each one of you feel calm and cool, smart and loved, seen and heard. I want you to feel that way when you leave the classroom each day. I want you to own those words and believe them. I want you to trust yourself and have confidence in who you are as a fifth-grader. You are young, and you play a big part in this beautiful world of ours.
Expect to make mistakes. Expect to make lots of them. You will be learning new concepts and skills. If you knew these concepts and skills already you'd be going into sixth grade, so be patient with yourself along this new journey. No one is meant to get things right the first time. We're meant to learn from mistakes. Everyone makes them. I do. Your parents do. Mr. Layman and Mrs. Rivera do. No one is exempt from mistakes. Using them as a learning experience is the key.
It's my hope you will enter into this new school year with an open mind, an open heart, and lots of patience for yourself as a learner of both academic and social skills. Education is so much more than reading and writing. It's also about learning and growing into a caring, responsible, trustworthy citizen, who shares their gifts with the world.
Here's to a fresh, new year of learning and growing!
Mindfully,
Mrs. Caputo xo
