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Showing posts from November, 2017

The Importance of Teaching Our Children to be Thankful

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Teaching Our Children the Skill of Being Thankful and Expressing Gratitude Hello Elementary Friends, Welcome to Thanksgiving Break 2017!   Mitch and I are on the the trek across Texas for Thanksgiving this year.  We are making a big circle starting in Lubbock to see my mom and Dwayne, then to San Angelo to visit friends, Robyn and Andy Smith, tonight we are settling into our beach house for three nights with Mitch's family, then Friday up to the Metroplex to see more relatives and to Azle with Tommy and Cyndi Standefer, and then finally back home!  We think we will put around 1800 miles on the car by the time we arrive back in Highlands Ranch!  It's all good, though, and wonderful to see so many people who are important in our lives. Traveling in the car has given me opportunity to consider the week upon us.  Being thankful is not hard for me, but I have seen children who have not been taught this skill.  I call it a skill because I believe that it must be ...

Building a Sense of Community with Emojis?

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Can Emojis Build a Community? "Mrs. Hankins, please, please, please tell me what the teachers are going to be this year?  I just can't wait!" I must have received this request at least 100 times leading up to our annual Halloween parade at Mortensen on Tuesday!   Each year two key staff  members (Susan Corbett and Deb Brown) come up with the idea for our annual theme.  Thank you ladies!  Here are some of the recent themes from years' past: Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Minions, Lego Characters, The Up Movie, Poke`mon I really love this year's theme of Emojis!  The children were very excited to see all of their teachers and staff members dressed according to our theme.  It has become a tradition at Mortensen to keep the theme a secret until the "big reveal" at 2:00 on Halloween just in time for our annual parade and parties.   This tradition among others has helped us create a sense of community among and between staff members, students, and t...