We live in a culture of immediacy and abbreviation. Emails have replaced letters, downloads of songs have replaced albums, emojis have replaced words. You get the picture. 🙂
But in striving for quickness, certain elements are lost. We are conditioned to make decisions faster than ever before without built-in processes that require us to slow down and reflect. And this makes it harder to stop, consider consequences, and demonstrate self-control. A lack of this virtue may manifest in many ways: a response that’s blurted out, a misworded text that causes hurt feelings.
As educators, it is our responsibility to explore ways we can encourage students to remember to build in a pause before they act. These pause buttons, literal or virtual, are likely to be even more important as our culture continues to rocket forward at a breathtaking pace.
We are lucky enough at Crossroads to have a faculty who fosters just such moments throughout the day. With our youngest students, this virtue is touched upon while reading stories or interacting on the playground. Slow down before you kick the ball over the fence or react strongly to something a classmate said. In the Middle School, there is scheduled, structured time for these conversations and for reflections on this virtue, though students have many other opportunities outside of these times to practice what they learn. And as a community, we consciously value those moments to practice self-awareness and restraint, take a breath, and make better decisions.
—Yours truly, Brad
Follow me on Twitter @CrossroadsHead
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* Head’s Note: Self-Control
* Head’s Note: Self-Control
* Virtues for this Month: Self-Control, Self-Discipline
* Crossroads Annual Fund
* Admissions Office News
* Parent Association News
– Lunch Program
– Parents’ Night Out/Northern Stage (4/28)
* School News
– Marine Lab Trip
– Summer Programs 2016
– Classroom Clips
– Hats Off
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* Virtues for this Month
* April: Self-Control, Self-Discipline
Self-control is stopping to think about my actions before I enact them.
Self-discipline is giving the best of ourselves and saying “no” to our weaknesses.
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* Crossroads Annual Fund
Here is a list of some of the amazing opportunities our teachers are providing for our students… coaching math teams to multiple victories, applying makeup and decorating with the first grade students to create memorable Egyptian Museums, playing crazy pickup soccer with students, parading through the hallways of Klee adorned in crowns and vests representing the 100th day of school, practicing many hours to make the musical a huge success every year, maintaining a butterfly habitat garden, instilling the wonders of science through the dissection of cow eyeballs and sheep hearts, creating a fashion show out of insect costumes, providing students with creative musical outlets at Family Arts Night and fifth grade coffee houses…These are our wonderful Crossroads teachers working every day beyond our expectations to help provide a magical experience for all of our students! Your gift to the Crossroads Annual Fund both honors their dedication and commitment AND helps us reach the 100 percent participation we need to secure our match! Please click here to make your tax deductible gift (to the extent allowed by law). Thank you for your continued support of Crossroads!
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* Admissions Office News
Greetings from the Admissions Office! I hope you all had a wonderful spring vacation. And now it seems that there is always a rush to the end of the school year with many last minute events on the calendar: Shakespeare Day, ERBs, field trips, class projects, and the Middle School musical. It’s a busy time but also a fun time to connect as a community before summer takes us all in our own directions. I hope to see more of you at these events over the next couple of months!
Next Monday, April 25, is our final Discover the Difference open house morning. Please consider inviting one or two of your friends, neighbors, or colleagues to see our campus from 9:00-11:00 am that morning. We will have an information session with a student-teacher-parent panel and campus tours given by Middle School ambassadors. It’s a wonderful introduction to our incredible school! Thank you for helping us spread the word.
Reminder…
Our next Crossroads Brown Bag Café will be held TOMORROW, April 19. Please bring along a friend and join us for coffee and conversation between 8:00 and 9:00 am in the multipurpose room in the Klee Building. Maybe we can even take a nice spring walk around campus…wear your walking shoes! I hope you can join us.
Have a wonderful week! —Warmly, Marilyn
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* Parent Association News
* Lunch Program
This week follows the “Week B” menu. Please be sure you are following the correct week. In addition, please consider sending in a set of silverware for your child to keep in his/her cubby; we are trying to avoid the waste of disposable silverware.
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* Parents’ Night Out/Northern Stage (4/28)
Mark your calendar for Thursday, April 28, and get your babysitter lined up! Northern Stage has generously offered us the opportunity to enjoy their last production of the season, “Living Together,” while doing a little fundraising for the PA at the same time. A block of seats has been set aside for anyone calling and identifying themselves as part of the Crossroads community. Call the box office at (802) 296-7000 to reserve your seats now! When you mention that you are part of the Crossroads group you will receive a $5 discount per ticket, and the PA will receive 25 percent of ticket sales for that night.
Please note that the content of this show is PG-13 at best. See the website for more details. Please feel free to contact Terry Samwick with any questions. Looking forward to seeing you there!
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* School News
* Marine Lab Trip
Crossroads Middle Schoolers studied marine biology over their spring break at MARINE LAB in the Florida Keys. Fifth grade teacher Dr. Bruce Freeberg and Crossroads parent Deb Schaner accompanied them in their exploration of seagrass beds, mangroves, and coral reefs!
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* Summer is almost here…Please Join us for a great summer at Crossroads!
We are delighted to share course descriptions and registration information for the 2016 Crossroads Summer Programs. Taught by Crossroads faculty, other local teachers, or in collaboration with educational organizations in the Upper Valley, all of our programs are designed to be both engaging and fun. Most programs run from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm daily with a free extended-day option from 3:00-5:00 pm, but please see the program descriptions for the exact times. All programs are open to both Crossroads students and others in the area. Please click here to sign up.
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* Classroom Clips
Classroom Clips is a weekly space for students and teachers to share their writing with the Crossroads community. There are two entries today from fourth graders Rory Seelig and Brandon Landgraf. Fourth grade students wrote essays based on a life experience where they demonstrated courage. Since they were studying the Middle Ages, they illuminated their essays with homemade paints using parsley, spinach, blueberries, beets, turmeric, paprika, coffee, and lapis lazuli. Students also applied gold leaf to their essays. Please click here to read Rory’s essay and click here to read Brandon’s essay.
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* Hats Off…
* Congratulations to the Hanover Wild Girls U12 Hockey Team!
Congratulations to Lily Seelig (sixth grade) and her team, the Hanover Wild Girls U12 hockey team! They were runner ups at the New England District Regional Championships after winning the state championship a few weeks ago. What a great end to the season!
