letters to my class

Dear Humans,

While working on a jigsaw puzzle with my daughter last night, I thought about how it’s like life.

You start with the easy, predictable edge pieces. You might get confused every once in a while, but it’s mostly straightforward. It’s learning to walk, talk, and go boom in the potty.

But then you get to the vast middle. And you better have a plan. You can’t just grab a piece and try to fit it into the puzzle. You work on different sections of the puzzle at a time.

And with every piece, the puzzle becomes a little easier.

And when you get to the end, and you just about feel like you know what you’re doing, the puzzle is complete.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to go hiking. Which is weird because I hate hiking. I never understood driving somewhere just to go walk around. Plus, all that walking gives me sausage fingers, and I hate the smell of outside.

But that’s exactly why I’m doing it. It’s never too late to try new things. And I’ve found that the things I once hated, are the same things I’ve ended up liking most of all. My hatred was actually just ignorance.

Plus, those fleece-clad, boot-wearing hippies seem like they’re having so much fun. See you on the trail!

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Yesterday we came up with a list of five student responsibilities. I think that’s better than rules. Rules usually tell us what we’re not supposed to do. Sometimes that’s helpful, but not always. Plus, some people see a list of what they’re not supposed to do as an invitation to try it. (Not that any of you would do that.)

But responsibilities are altogether different. They’re a list of things we should do. Not because we want to win a reward or “be good” but because we know that living our best life in the best possible world requires us to do things the right way.

We all have skin in this game.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

The best thing about kids is that you’re gracious with second chances. When I get on your case for not following directions, you don’t ever stay grumpy with me for long. When you have problems with friends, you usually figure them out and get back to friendship within the day.

I wish adults were as good at giving second chances as you kids are.

Because we all deserve another chance, even if it’s not our second. We all deserve the chance to be the kind of people we’re capable of being.

And sometimes the person we most need to give a second chance to is ourselves.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

The earth orbits the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour. Imagine cruising down I-70 when traffic isn’t too bad. Now go 1,000 times faster. That’s how fast we’re traveling around the sun. And we don’t even know it.

For most of human history, we assumed we sat in one place and the heavens whirled around us. And the idea that we too are whirling around space at breakneck speeds and only kept in place by forces that we don’t fully understand is scary. No wonder they locked Galileo up!

But our five senses can’t tell us everything that’s going on, especially when we’re thinking about things really big and really small. So we have to use that 3 pound lump protected by seven millimeters of skull.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Skywatchers,

How many moons does Jupiter have? It seems like a simple question with a simple answer. And, as of today, astronomers have discovered 72.

But astronomers discover more Jovian satellites every year and are pretty sure more exist. And that story of discovery is a lot more interesting than a mere number.

Over 2300 years ago, Chinese astronomer Gan De recorded observations of Ganymeade. About 400 years ago, Galileo used his 20x telescope to see Jupiter’s four largest moon. But as late as 1999, astronomers had only discovered 13. In recent years, astronomers have used high-tech measuring devices to discover the previously undiscoverable.

And this story of discovery will continue. So, expect someday to tell your grandkids about the good old days when Jupiter only had 72 moons.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Life is exactly like an avocado. It’s neither all the time good nor all the time bad; it just depends on the timing.

I’ve had incredible avocados–perfectly ripe; all green, no bruises; easily mashed into fluffy goodness by the tines of a fork. And I’ve had terrible avocados–full of brown spots; stringy; a flavor resembling the inside of an oil worker’s boot.

And the difference between a good avocado and a bad avocado is a day or two on the counter.

Also, like life, an avocado isn’t anything without a little lime and salt.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

Recent test results have shown that American students aren’t very good at telling fact from opinions. But don’t feel too bad–American adults are pretty bad at it too!

We live in a world that is so jam-packed full of information that it’s hard to make heads or tails of. When I was a kid waiting in line at the grocery store, there were only a few magazines and they were mostly about batboy. I knew those were made up.

But now there are a lot of magazines about how I can easily lose weight in 3 simple steps. And although I know those are also made up as well, I really, really want to believe them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

When you were babies and didn’t yet know the names for things, you could still put them in piles by their similarities. That’s because we know things by their properties. As we get older and more informed, we start to know things by their invisible properties.

Today in science we’ll continue to talk about substances by their invisible properties. Today it’s density.

Science reminds us of what poets have been telling us for centuries: there’s more than appears on the surface; the most important stuff is what we can’t see, touch, or hear. But if we tune ourselves in, if have a method, we can uncover the hidden truths.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

A few weeks ago my family bought a car, and I had to do a boatload of math. I suppose I didn’t have to do it. I could have just paid whatever price was on the sticker. But I wanted to make sure I got what I wanted at the price I wanted.

And that’s what real math is all about: we’re not just getting the right answer, we’re solving the problems that help us navigate the world.

Because never in my adult life has someone handed me a sheet of math problems and told me to solve them. In this complex world of ours, you have to make up your own math problems.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck