letters to my class

Dear Classifiers,

There are many, many species of animals (and many more that we don’t even know about). Before we study these animals, it’s helpful to put them into categories. Biologists have a special method of classifying animals based on important traits. What kind of traits are important for putting animals into groups?

We can use the same ideas about classification to better understand numbers, polygons, and polyhedrons (3-D shapes). This week, we’ll classify all of these things, and see the deep understanding that happens when we put like things next to each other.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Readers and Writers,

Losing yourself in a text and seeing the world from a different point of view is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Reading Willaim Blake’s “The Echoing Green” transports us to a different place and makes us think about the rhythms and truths of life and nature. To think that Blake accomplished that using only words is amazing.

Being able to read well and write clearly are super powers. As author and illustrator Kevin O’Malley said when he visited Meadow a few years ago, “I write because I want to control people’s minds.” That, however, is a tough job, and it requires a lot of hard work–reading, writing, rereading, rewriting–throughout our lives.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Dragonslayers,

Today we’ll read dragon myths. We know how humans long ago came to imagine dragons, and today we’ll read some of the heroic stories they created about these scaled creatures. Often in these myths, heroes fight dragons not only to show their strength or valor, but to save their communities who live under constant threat from the beast. What character traits would it require to slay a dragon? Do you have what it takes to fight dragons?

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Language Lovers,

This week is palindrome week because all the dates between May 10th and May 19th are palindromes: 51015, 51115, 51215, etc. As you well know, palindromes are words, phrases, or numbers that read the same forwards and backwards.

Intrepid writers have discovered palindromes of suprising and dazzling length and complexity: “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.” “Go hang a salami. I’m a lasagna hog.” It almost convinces me that palindromes reveal secret meanings about the world (or maybe they’re just hilarious).

Palindromes remind us how clever humans are when working with words. Merely getting our meaning across is not enough. We want to do it with style, grace, and beauty.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Pattern Makers,

Today we’ll look at and create frieze patterns: repeating, geometric designs that we often see below roofs or ceilings. Frieze patterns are examples of geometry in action. They repeat the same pattern with symmetrical differences: reflections, rotations, and translations.

Since we use math to make models of the real world, it’s no surprise that we see it wherever we look. Math is an invaluable tool in understanding the natural patterns that humans are drawn to and the beautiful art that humans like to draw.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Storytellers,

Recently, we’ve been reading Tall Tales–John Henry, Johnny Appleseed, and Paul Bunyan. We know that these stories may have originally been about real people, but, over time, other real people did what real people tend to do: stretched the truth.

This week we’ll explore other ways that humans take facts and twist them into fantastical stories. When humans first started digging fossils, what creatures did they imagine? When humans felt like they didn’t have control over their lives, what stories tales did they weave to make sense of their world?

As readers, writers, and thinkers, we have to always be on the lookout for the difference between truth and fiction. Sometimes, that’s much more difficult than it seems.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear College Strivers,

This week March Madness begins. That’s a college basketball tournament that happens every year. There’s a lot of chance involved in this tournament, and people enjoy filling out brackets and trying to predicts who will win. This year, my college’s team is in the tournament, so I’m really excited to watch the games.

When I was your age, I used to wake up early on the Monday that brackets came out and would fill out my bracket before school started. I’d watch the games and keep close track of my predictions. I learned a lot about probability, geography, and basketball by doing this.

Life is full of little moments such as this that you keep doing throughout a lifetime.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Rational Thinkers,

Today we’ll eat a little pie. That’s because Saturday is 3/14/15 and those are the first five digits of the constant pi. In your mathematical career, you’ll learn about and use pi–to find the circumference of circles, the area of circles, and pretty much anything about circles or curves. It’s a number that shows up throughout nature. It seems to represent something important about order and chaos.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Poets,

Poets care about language. Poets care about saying things in new ways. Poets care about showing us things we have never seen before, or showing us old, worn out things in a new and exciting ways.

Today we’ll continue to read and write poems about the moon. Humans have watched the moon’s same “courtly fashion” since we’ve been around. What new things could we possibly say about it? Poets find a way.

“A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.”–W.H. Auden

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Thespians,

Today the drama club will lead us in some theater games. This is a good chance to get in touch with your inner thespian. I think some of you will make great actors and actresses. I know everyone was impressed by our production of A Christmas Carol.

The important thing is to put yourself out there. Don’t worry what others will think. We have too many people who try to fit in. The world belongs to courageous risk takers who refuse to stay in their comfort zones.

Sincerely,

Mr. H