Dear Families,

I hope you are settling into a routine of getting everyone up and ready for school! The staff and I are truly happy to have your children back in our care. Thank you for trusting us with them - they give us so much joy!

The Mill Valley School District is committed to building Character Education into our curriculum. To achieve this, Edna Maguire's Life Skills Program helps students gain the tools they need to be good citizens. Each month, our teachers select a skill for your children to incorporate in their day. At the end of the month, we hold an all-school assembly and hand out Life Skill Awards to students in each grade who did an especially good job of practicing that skill. We also hand out Random Acts of Life Skill Tickets all month!

September's Life Skill is RESPONSIBILITY. We're encouraging kids to respond to people, animals, things and circumstances--moment by moment--with decisions based on integrity and caring. The goal is to help them understand what's right and wrong. By developing a strong "moral compass," they can analyze what's going on at any particular moment and make the best choice about how to respond.

In other news, we had a Staff Development Day on August 23. We spent time sharing our summer vacation moments (you can read about them on the office bulletin board), but more importantly, we revisited our school's Vision and Mission Statements. These statements drive what we do as a learning community and describe our beliefs about how we should interact with students. They cover a wide range of topics, including curriculum delivery, building self-esteem and character, encouraging environmental stewardship and fostering critical thinking. This year, I also tied the statements to the PTA and its connection to the vision and mission of our school. You can read them here.

It's important for all of us to adopt our school's practices and beliefs so we can optimize each child's opportunity to learn and grow. When we all act together, our children benefit. Thank you for your help!

All the Best,

Lisa Zimmer

Posted by Tim Schultz on September 19