letters to my class

Dear Citizens,

Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement. As we’ve learned, the early days of that settlement were rough. Most of the colonists suffered and died.

But people kept coming over. People saw something in America that attracted them. I think it was opportunity, hope, and the chance to make their own future.

One-hundred fifty years later, our founders put these hopes into words:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

We still argue over what these words mean and we’re still trying to make sure we live up to them. But they’re the foundation for the great experiment that America is and continues to be.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

There’s an old saying attributed to Oliver Cromwell, an English military leader, in which he told his men to “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.” Powder, of course, is gun powder, and Cromwell was urging his men to be prepared to spring into action at any moment.

We don’t have powder in school, but we do have pencils. And I think “Keep your pencils sharp” is a perfect slogan for us. This means more than merely keeping your graphite to a tip. It means always being prepared to learn new things; it means trusting in yourself that you’re smart enough to learn these things; and it means always being willing to put in the effort that it takes to learn these new things.

Most of all, it’s believing that learning about the world is humanity’s greatest achievement. When you take part in it, you’re taking part in something great.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Eating lunch alone stinks. The food tastes bland, the texture’s slimy, and it gets lukewarm really, really quick.

We don’t have to look too far to see bad things going on in the world. If we see enough bad things and we’re always eating lunch alone, we might think the world is a cold, heartless place.

But really the world’s mostly just other people. You’re other people, and I’m other people. So we a lot of power over the type of world we create.

So today, make sure nobody eats lunch alone.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Individuals,

We’ve been reading about the class-based society of New Spain. In that culture, you were born poor or rich or middle class and people believed that was just the way it was supposed to stay. Kings were kings and slaves were slaves.

But things were happening in the 1600s and 1700s that challenged these ideas. Scientists were looking through telescopes and reordering the skies; philosphers were thinking about existence and justice; and writers and artists were representing what human life was really like.

These forces all joined together to lead to big revolutions based on the idea that all people are created equal.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Many people believe that compassion is the heart of all great religions. While these religions may be different in many ways, many of them have some form of the Golden Rule: Treat others how you want to be treated.

But I think compassion is at the heart of all great human achievements. Science requires a passion for the mysteries of the world and a willingness to share discoveries with other humans. Scientific discoveries also lead to new technologies that aim to make people’s lives better.

So today look for examples of compassion in the stories we read (what does George Saunders how to say about compassion in The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip?), the lives we learn about (what examples of compassion do we see in early American history?), and, most importantly, your own life (what can you do today to practice compassion?).

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Students,

It’s better to be good at something than to not be good at something. But getting good at something can be hard. You have to fail. You have to make mistakes. Sometimes you have to look like a fool. There’s nothing fifth graders hate more than looking like a fool in front of their peers.

So it takes a lot of courage. Living the good life is mostly about courage. Do you have to courage to fail and keep going? Do you have the courage to do what’s important to you no matter what others think? Do you have the courage to stand up for what’s right, even if it’s not popular?

Show courage today and always,

Mr. H

Dear Timekeepers,

Yesterday we studied timelines. They are very useful tools for historians because they help us organize the jumble of events that happened in history. More importantly, they emphasize the events that were most important to history.

Your job as a student of history is to create a mental timeline of the most important events in human history. That requires a lot of close reading, reflection, and study.

This is your job in school: Work hard to learn things about the world. This world needs more knowledgeable people to make decisions about our future.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Taskmasters,

Your goal in school is to learn to use your mind well. When you face a problem in the future, your greatest tool will be your mind. Now is your chance to put in a lot of practice to sharpen your mind.

It’s helpful to think of your mind as a muscle that you can make stronger with lots and lots of practice. But it’s important that your practice is focused and useful. To be a better reader you have to make sure you’re reading and making meaning. To be a better writer, you have to make sure you’re challenging yourself to do the best writing you can do. To be a better problem solver, you need to make sure you’re engaged and actively trying to solve a problem in creative ways.

It’s not easy. But it’s worth the effort.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Cartographers,

Today we’ll make a map of our classroom. The main job of mapmakers is the same main job of readers, writers, mathematicians, and problem solvers: figure out what’s most important.

We can’t include everything from our classroom in our map. We have to make decisions about what objects make our classroom into a classroom. What items are essential to “classroom-ness”?

Mapmakers also add things to their maps. In the real world, there’s no line between Colorado and Wyoming, but on a map it is essential.

We’ll also make our maps to scale. That means we’ll shrink everything in our classrooom down in the exact same way and fit it on a piece of paper.

Sincerely,

Mr. H