Dear Humans,
It’s important that we give each other lots of chances. Because we know we’re all going to make mistakes. It’s our goal to make mistakes because we know we learn from them. But people are only willing to make mistakes if they know that their community will give them another chance.
So even if someone “borrowed” your mechanical pencil in 2ND grade and never returned it, forgive them and give them another chance. We all know we need that grace ourselves.
Sincerely,
Mr. Heimbuck
Dear Readers,
As writers we try to create a new world for our readers to live in using nothing but our words. We can create completely new places and people just by putting nouns and verbs together. That’s amazing.
And I believe that these word-worlds are the best place to live our lives. So my hope for you is that you spend enough time in the real world to pay a few bills, and then spend the rest of your time in these magical worlds created by words.
Sincerely,
Mr. Heimbuck
Dear Students,
Having big ideas about the world requires bravery. It’s easy to believe what everyone else believes. It’s easy to go along with the crowd. It’s easy to accept the world as it comes to you. Sometimes having big ideas means you disagree with friends and family. Sometimes having big ideas can be lonely.
But you’ll only ever change the world with your own ideas. And the world is always ready for the next big idea to change it.
Sincerely,
Mr. H
Dear Cartographers,
Anytime we make a map, we do the impossible: we make a sphere flat. Think about it–the earth is round, yet maps are always flat. How do humans do it? We do it, quite simply, by making distortions. While trying to be as accurate as possible, cartographers (the fancy word for map makers) have to make choices about how they’ll change the land.
Anytime we make a map, we make choices about what’s important, what’s relevant, and what belongs where. When you make your personal maps, you’re going to make similar choices. As long as you can offer a reasonable explanation for your decisions, they are the right ones, but you have to really think about what distortions are important to your world.
Sincerely,
Mr. Heimbuck
Dear Geographers,
This year we’ll spend a lot of time looking at maps. We’ll study tons of US maps that break our country up into physical and cultural regions, but most importantly we’ll think about what maps say both about the land they describe and also the people who make them.
People really do wild and creative things with maps (I’ll show you some examples today), which is why maps will never be replaced by satellites or GPS. Maps tell stories about land, history, people, cultures, attitudes, fears, and so much more. When you study maps, you not only learn about boundaries, capitals, proximities, and regions, you also learn about how humans imagine the world.
Let’s have a great day,
Mr. Heimbuck
Dear Dolphins,
Hey, that’s the name you picked for our class. In fact, you picked The Flaming Cheese Dolphins. I don’t really know what that means, but I can get behind a class that likes cheese, and I especially can get behind a class that likes dolphins, which are incredible animals and rumored to be one of the smartest species out there. Scientists also think they’re one of the most playful, so they are a perfect mascot for our class.
Today we’ll continue classbuilding activities including making a 5th grade song and deciding on some of the rules and norms that we have for our classroom community. It’s important that our class cares for one another, watches out for each other, and challenges one another to be the best we can be. You will remember the people you go to school with for the rest of your life. We want those memories to be filled with laughter, leaning, and joy.
Let’s have a great day,
Mr. Heimbuck
Dear Array Makers,
I like to think of math as the process of making models. Models help us better understand things because models break those things into their parts. We don’t just make models of trains, cars, and airplanes, however; we can also make models of numbers.
One way we can make a model of a multiplication problem is with an array. You have been working with arrays since Second Grade, and you see them all the time in everyday life. For homework this week, you will collect and bring to class arrays that you notice in the real world. One of the main jobs of a mathematician is to see math coursing through everyday life. Rather than just seeing a muffin tin as a muffin tin, a mathematician sees it as a 3×4 rectangular array.
If you have a firm grasp of arrays, you will be prepared for much of what we’ll learn in 5th grade–multiplication, fractions, percents, and area, just to name a few.
Let’s have a great day,
Mr. H
Dear Musicians,
Today, we’ll go to a concert and you’ll get the opportunity to hear and choose an instrument. I encourage each of you to take up an instrument or join the choir. Music is a gift that will last your entire life. No matter how many hours you spend practicing, there’s always more you can learn. I’ve played the guitar for 15 years, and I still learn something new everyday.
Music is also a great place to practice the skills we’re learning in class. Because math and music both deal with patterns, they are very similar. When practicing the trumpet (or whatever instrument you choose) you’ll also be practicing fractions and arithmetic and many other mathematical concepts.
Most of all, taking up an instrument or joining the choir will teach you that success and greatness are only achieved through hard work. The greatest musicians in the world got that way by spending tens of thousands of hours practicing. You can still enjoy playing an instrument without being the greatest in the world, but the hard work and dedication offers many rewards.
Play on!
Mr. Heimbuck
letters to my class 