letters to my class

Dear Learners,

Everyone in the world has something to teach us. Everyone knows something we don’t.

In school, you will learn more from your fellow students than you will from your teachers. In life, you will learn more from your friends than you do from your parents. It’s up to you to make good choices about who you choose to learn from and what lessons you let them teach you.

Our classroom is full of amazingly talented, kind, and intelligent children. Every single person in here has a lot to teach us.  Learn from them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

The best way to learn about yourself is to learn about the world. You can only know the “true you” by putting that person out in the world, meeting other people, and learning new things. 

And because you are a unique individual, you will have your own perspective on the world out there. You will make sense of it by holding it up in the light of your own experiences, and you’ll come away with insights and ideas about the world and about yourself. It’s important that you refine and share those insights.

So greet each day as another opportunity to learn more about the world out there. It’s the only way you’ll learn about the you in there.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Debaters,

Most of the problems in the world don’t have one right answer. So we have to figure out our position and try to sway others to agree with us through reasons and evidence. But the key to debating is listening. 

If you really give ear to other people’s reasons and evidence, you will find out what’s in their heart. Then, you can appeal to those values with your own argument. And that is how you change people’s minds. You might even change your own.

No matter what kind of writing you’re doing, you are always appealing to your reader’s values. You are always thinking about what they believe is good, true, and beautiful.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Habitmakers,

Since bad habits are so easy to pick up, you’d think good habits would be as well. But they’re not. So we have to show a lot of discipline at the beginning. 

That means we force ourselves to read for 30 minutes each night and we keep close track of the number of pages we read and we set goals for our reading and we do it every single day. Each day it becomes a little bit easier.

Soon, reading each day will just be a part of what we do, like eating or breathing. Our days won’t feel complete without it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Fans,

The Rockies have played 162 baseball games, but their season comes down to one game tonight. If they win, they get another chance to win the World Series. If they lose, they go home.

The Rockies have traveled over 30,000 miles this season. But their season hinges on one final trip to Arizona. They’ve hit 192 home runs, but one more might be enough to extend their season. They’ve thrown over 20,000 pitches this season, but it all might come down to just one pitch tonight.

Baseball can be a cruel game. Despite all that we know, we can’t predict the future. So tonight, I know I’ll be watching.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Goal Setters,

One thing I like to write in my writer’s notebook is a list of books I plan to read during the month. I don’t usually read all of the books on my list and I sometimes read books that aren’t on the list, but I like to create a reading plan for myself.

Readers are goal setters. Readers always know what book they want to read next and probably the book they want to read after that. Most importantly, readers know the type of reader they want to be. We know that the books we read are important to who we are and we’re really mindful of what we put in our to-read stack.

What’s the next book you’re going to read?

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Peacemakers,

We can’t make people,do what we want. We often can even make ourselves do what we want. But people do tend to respond to their environments. So if we do what we can to make our environment peaceful, caring, and calm, people will act in peaceful and caring ways. 

So today, let’s focus on making sure our classroom is one of peace, where everyone feels safe and included and everyone feels like their voice is heard.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Attention Givers,

What we learn in school is so rich, so important, and so life changing that it requires your full attention.

We string letters into sounds into words into sentences into paragraphs that create meaningful stories about our human lives in the world, and then we try to create our own. We use shapes and numbers to create order out of the unordered world of nature. We find and name patterns in the language that we use and learn how to use it in new and challenging ways.

This is not easy stuff. This is not something that you can just easily pick up. It requires your full attention, your full effort, and a lot of thought. Be sure to give it your all today.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Risk Takers,

Some people are afraid of spiders, some of clowns, and some of heights. But what all people are afraid of is looking foolish in front of other people. So school, a place where you’re in front of your peers all day everyday, can be a very scary place.

But we know that mistakes are the best way to learn and you make mistakes when you try something new.

So it’s super important that we create a community that allows everyone to try new things, make mistakes, and learn from them. Because we know that we’re all going to need that grace ourselves.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck