News & Events

Friday Letters - 3rd & 4th Grade, Ms. Butler

May 30, 2008

Dear 3rd and 4th Grade Parents,

We have been reading from the Chronicles of Prydain lately.  It is a fantasy story centered on a boy and a girl who have to make their way in a newly dangerous world.  They must step up to unexpected challenges and face unwanted difficulties.  They must grow up.  The class is fond of Taran’s hot-headedness, but they hate to see his mentor deride him for it.  WE know how steady, humble, and strong Taran has become.  Like Taran, each of them is on a challenging journey.  The end of a school year is like the end of a book – time to reflect on how you have changed and grown, time to look ahead to what comes next.

In morning meeting the other day Adam said, “I don’t want this year to end,” and he was immediately echoed by several students.  It’s not that they want to practice math facts, perfect their spelling, or read another article on plate tectonics!  It’s because they feel like a family about to be sundered.  We work so hard all year to create this incredibly tight, caring, supportive community, then half of it moves on and the other half feels bereft. 

Before we leap ahead to the positives of this arrangement, we must acknowledge their sadness and uncertainty.  Do you remember how it was when your friend wound up in a different class?  Hearing these feelings and fears is a big part of these last weeks. 

Step up is always a special moment in the year.  I remember each group of 2nd graders who have visited.  They seem so small, so awed, shy, and eager to please.  They watch the 3rd graders to know what to do and how to act.  I could not really prepare the current 3rd graders for that feeling, just as I cannot really prepare the current 4th graders for the feeling they will have on that first day of middle school - getting their schedule, carrying that binder, figuring out where they need to be – we can only give them a taste.  Jade said yesterday that she felt a strange sense of power, as though the 2nd graders really would do something if she told them to.  Meryl Fe was amazed that they behaved so well, “just like us.”  I told them again, as I have told them before, the 4th graders really are the leaders, their behavior and attitude really does matter, really does shape the community.  This time, they got it.  They felt it.  They stepped up to that new role and realized what it is that makes being a 4th grader different.  And our departing 4th graders nodded sagely, with all the benevolence of ones who have been there.  There is a proverb we think of a lot at Ring Mountain: Tell me and I will listen, Show me and I will know, Let me do it and I will understand.  They have listened.  They have known.  Now they understand.

Thank you all for your help and support; this really has been a wonderful year!
Sincerely, 
Liza Butler