Welcome back, Division 16!

It is so great to see our alumni from last year and to spend some time together before our new classes are finalized and we meet our new students.

To get started, we are making annual a project we did last year called the Belonging Project.  It’s a way to welcome our new students to the class.  We began with discussions today that helped us delve into ideas of culture. We asked the questions: What is culture, how is it shown, how do we share culture and what is shared from cultures.  We then considered what the culture of our class was.  After small group discussion, we brainstormed together.

This is a group of students proud of their class culture.  Great work, everybody!  After that, we talked about the concepts of Tolerance, Acceptance, Hospitality, Welcoming, Diversity and Sameness, and asked who is responsible for inclusion in our classroom.  This is an exceptional group of students who care deeply about their community and the potential of a new year.

Tomorrow, we will begin the project where students in the class from last year will develop initiatives to welcome our new students.

Your homework:  Think about a way to help our new students belong in our classroom.  This could be an activity in or out of class, leading a lesson for the group, or a new classroom routine.  We will discuss criteria in the morning.

Jody