Values Count!

In a time when parents are worried about eroding values, I thought I would share a thank you that we received from a visitor to The Wilson School. It is gratifying to know that all our emphasis on emotional intelligence, community responsibility and values really does work!
A note of thanks for your students' honesty

2/2/09

Dear Mrs. Borlo:

My name is Jeannie Phillips and I am a parent of an 8th grader at The Peck School. Last week, our volleyball team visited The Wilson School to play volleyball. Your school graciously gave my family permission to bring our seeing-eye puppy to the game. It helped with his training and he enjoyed meeting several of your students.

When leaving the game, I apparently dropped $20 while fumbling for car keys, greeting my child after the game and organizing the puppy. Your students (I am not sure exactly who) recovered the money and gave it to another Peck parent, who assured its return to me. I wanted you to know of the honesty and character shown by your students.

Please share my gratitude with your students and take a moment to celebrate the great character of The Wilson School student body.

- Jeannie Phillips

Have a Great Day?

It has occurred to me that we may be doing our children a disservice when the primary advice that we give them each day is “Have a Great Day”. What concrete suggestions are we making in that comment?

Are we telling them to work hard, listen to their teachers, be a good friend, focus on their assignments, eat a healthy lunch? Or are we implying “have fun”? At the risk of coming across as a curmudgeon, it seems clear that we don’t have to emphasize the “have fun” part – kids naturally know how to do that, and teachers are in tune with making a lot of the school day “fun” in order to keep the attention of their classes and prevent learning from being painful. However, if we are to work together as a team, it might be more meaningful if parents would choose another slogan to impress on their school age child.

What is one directive you could give your children each morning that would help them live and learn each day with an enthusiasm, curiosity, respect and compassion that benefits not only themselves, but everyone they encounter?

Holiday Fun!

After some rather sophisticated student power point presentations describing how the Spanish celebrate the holidays, I was speaking with some of the older (14 years old) students about how they celebrate the holidays with their families. I was impressed and amused to learn that several of them track the whereabouts of Santa on their computers on Christmas Eve.

How wonderful that all of the glow and delight of old-fashioned traditions have not totally disintegrated with the advent of complex technology. We hear continuously about the pitfalls of children watching too much TV, playing too many videogames and spending too much of their free time (really homework time!) Instant Messaging their friends, and not enough of the virtues of computer savvy.

Want to track Santa? Try this site for videos, countdowns and Santa tracking in 3D!

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I can't wait to track Santa myself.

Teachers as Learners

Six teachers from Wilson attended the NJAIS (New Jersey Association of Independent Schools) conference this week held at Pingry School. What a wonderful experience for teachers to have the opportunity to learn and share what they do in their classrooms with other professionals!

We heard two keynote speakers: Angela Duckworth, who discussed the importance of self-discipline over IQ in long-term success in school as well as in life after school; and Rob Evans, who reminded us of the new and persistent pressures that parents feel about their children and the anxiety that this causes. Variously, the teachers attended workshops on technology use in the classroom, greening and sustainability ideas to enhance the curriculum, the waning popularity of French, storytelling, and other topics of particular interest to individual teachers.

Everyone returned enthused with new energy and encouraged that we too are doing wonderful things in the Wilson classrooms. Many thanks to the teachers who held the school together while we were gone, and to the substitutes who did a great job.

Wilson Students Art Fest!

Reminder

Wilson School’s Children’s Art Fest

November 6th 6:30pm

Please support our artists!

Your child has been hard at work creating his/her masterpiece
All art will be framed and showcased on this fun-filled evening. You will also have the opportunity to purchase a variety of products that has your child’s
art work featured on them.

This is a fundraiser for the Wilson School’s Parent’s Association, all proceeds go to providing special programming, events or equipment for the students.

If your child/children are in Wilson Plus, The Parent’s Association will provide supervision and pizza from 6:00 to 6:30pm

Any Questions please email: wilson.parents@yahoo.com

We're Really Back to School!

This has been a very exciting few weeks at The Wilson School. Old friends reunited, new friends made and a flurry of very productive activities. September 24th - Back to School Night, September 25 - Family Chapel.

How was September for you? Care to share some Wilson Stories - Just Blog!

An Exciting Year!

Welcome to everyone in the Extended Wilson Family! While you are all enjoying your summer vacations, plans are afoot for an exciting year at The Wilson School!

Did you know that is a Centennial Year? That's right! The Wilson School is fast approaching its 100th anniversary!! We are busy putting together a number of events to celebrate this historic occasion. We welcome any ideas you have to make the Centennial a memorable time!