Back to School of it All

It has been a busy first few weeks of school! Our theme for the year for all grade levels is "Having a Growth Mindset".  It is so important for students to understand that learning and success comes from practice, trying different strategies and sticking with concepts until we understand them, rather than having talents or "being smart". It's not just a feel-good concept, it is brain science!

With the younger grades, we read a book called "Bubble Gum Brain" that spoke about stretching your brain by being willing to make mistakes and try new strategies. Here is a picture of the students chewing bubble gum celebrating those elastic, bendable brains!

The older grades stretched their brains and practiced having a growth mindset with a library "Breakout EDU" problem solving activity and the new Middle School Exploratory explored our new fiction genre sections of the Middle/High School library. They had several puzzles and clues within their games that took determination and persistence! All of the groups made it out...here are some pictures:

Lastly, here are some great growth mindset quotes:

"There is a difference between not knowing and not knowing YET." - Sheila Tobias

"Every mistake you make is progress." - Unknown

"Don't judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."
- Nelson Mandela

"I haven't failed. I just found ten thousand ways that don't work."  - Thomas Edison

"If you find a path with no obstacles it probably doesn't lead anywhere." - Frank A. Clark