faulker065

Making a Difference Together! Hello Elementary Friends, Happy February 2018! For as long as I can remember I have been part of a group or organization that has missions, visions, goals, objectives, success criteria, etc.  I have participated in numerous long-range planning sessions where we sat around a table and struggled with just the right words to illustrate what we are about as an institution, cadre of believers, community, sorority, club, society, or simply a team.  I am sure that you will agree that this can be quite excruciating getting a group of people to come to a conclusion over the way to clearly communicate the association's values, mission, and purpose.   We have recently rewritten our school's mission and vision - what a challenge!  Our mission is to nurture, empower, and inspire all of our children to become successful learners in a world full of possibilities. Our vision is: Learn, Create, Succeed Together Upon the heels of our school's revision, my...

Can Children Set Lofty yet Achievable Goals and Work to Achieve Them? The Answer is Yes! Hello Elementary Friends! Welcome to 2018!  We are so glad to have our children back with us, and we are looking forward to a wonderful second semester of this school year.  I hope you had a nice holiday!  The month of January gives all of us an opportunity to look at the year ahead and make some plans and set some goals for ourselves, as well.   I ran across this article in the Huffington Post (2014) about the importance of helping children set and achieve goals.  I can assure you that we are working with our students on setting individual learning and achievement goals here at school.  I hope you find these ideas interesting and helpful in your conversations with your children! One of the best parts of celebrating a new year is the catharsis that comes with being able to start anew; reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the year to come. The nature ...

Busy as Santa's Elves! Santa (AKA Mr. Hankins) with the Pre-Schoolers at Mortensen! Hello Elementary Friends! Happy Holidays to All! The weeks and days before Winter Break are so very busy and exciting at an elementary school.  Here are just a few of the events that we have participated in over the past three weeks: 1.        Family Math Night for Parents of Students in Grades 3-5 2.        Elementary Orchestra Concert at Deer Creek Middle School 3.        Elementary Band Concert at Deer Creek Middle School 4.        Third Grade Program for Parents 5.        Third Grade Program for Students 6.        PTO Family Movie Night in the Gym 7.        2 Parent Meetings about the Chatfield One-to-One Chromebook Initiative 8.        Kindergarten Orientatio...

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 ...