The work of a second-grade artist!

The Lost Art of the Thank-You

At the all-school Thanksgiving assembly
this year's king, queen and turkey pose with
Lower School music teacher, Mary Heveran,
and the first turkey from the "Burt the Turkey
Skit" in 1996.

Third-grader, Ben, wrote about Me Being King:

"Today I was king. When I was walking down the aisle,
I felt like I was walking on air. I also felt like I was going
to faint. But when I finished I was the happiest person
on earth. I was an amazing king."

A simple but sincere “thank you” is one of our most powerful human expressions. Most of us must realize that we are far less than we might otherwise be without the help and support of others. Reaching out to those on whom we have depended acknowledges our gratefulness and readies us to complete the circle by meeting the needs of others. Yet, in today’s busy society, the time often never gets made to thank others, the excuse being that thank-yous are “understood,” or we assume that, in a quid-pro-quo world, everything will balance out in the end.

The kindergarten Thanksgiving feast

Each year one of our classes organizes an assembly to acknowledge and thank all of the non-faculty staff who make our school what it is. Often each student chooses an individual, draws a picture, writes a paragraph and presents the laminated “plaque” during the assembly. Several years ago, one of the recipients confided to a teacher that the moment had been the most touching in his 10 years of working for the school!

In a previous professional life, I had the responsibility of reaching out to people and asking them to contribute to the school. Literally thousands of members of the community, past and present, helped out each year. Very quickly I learned that it was the personal handwritten notes that I scrawled at the bottom of each letter that people remembered and appreciated, not the carefully crafted, mail-merged letter above.

The preschool 3s and 4s had a Thanksgiving feast together.

Several years ago our oldest son took the time to e-mail us a list of more than 80 reasons that he had to thank us. Believe me, even though we have had our differences, that gesture had a powerful impact. My wife remembers that our oldest daughter, when she was in preschool, thanked her for taking her to the dentist (for many years that was to be her chosen profession). For me, the highest compliment from my youngest son, when he was in the first grade, came when he thanked me by saying that I was “just as good as Mom.”

We all need to help our children and our students understand about the power of thank-yous. But, as is the case with any of the elements of good manners, thank-yous can be perfunctory and superficial. Sincere and heartfelt were the two criteria my wife and I used as we “tortured” our children by making them write thank-you notes within a day of receiving a gift. We would like to think that they will similarly torture their own children and thus continue the art of the thank-you.

Without practice and the feedback it generates, the thank-you note could simply disappear with the next generation. This period between Thanksgiving and the December holidays is a great time to make a stand and enlist our children to do their part to ensure that the art of the thank-you lives on. A ready supply of thank-you notes will make it possible to acknowledge the receipt of seasonal gifts as well as to send unsolicited thank-yous to friends, relatives and others, as the urge surfaces. (Teachers are particularly appreciative of recognition for their efforts.)

A Language Arts Update

by Assistant Principal, Susan Abramson

Eighth-grade students visited the Lower School as the
characters that they had chosen to study and portray as
part of their "Wax Museum" project.

As part of the fifth-grade opera program children cycle through a series of mini-courses in art, music and language arts. Currently one group is in the middle of a cycle called “Wordplay”. While fifth-graders are well-equipped to understand what words mean, Wordplay allows students to explore how words can have more than one meaning, think beyond the surface and tap into that special ability fifth-graders have to work collaboratively, socialize, learn and have fun, all at the same time.

Led by our librarian, Mrs. Sienicki, fifth-grade students in this cycle share, read, tell and analyze jokes, situational humor, puns, skits, riddles and more. By discovering and sharing what they think is funny, they have a chance to consider the nuances and subtleties of words. And while it’s fun, spontaneous and lively, it’s also an important time and opportunity to help children increase their awareness and enjoyment of language.

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There are new Preschool 3 Blog and Preschool 4 Blog posts.

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Learn How to Determine if Your Child Can Benefit from Occupational Therapy

Chaya Warburg
from the Pediatric Occupational Therapy Services
will make a presentation for preschool -

first-grade parents

on Thursday, December 5th at 8:45 a.m.

in Hulst House.