Perseverance

“What is harder than rock, or softer than water?  Yet soft water hollows out hard rock.  Persevere.”

~Ovid, Roman poet

I have written about perseverance in the past in my blog, but as we are going through the pillars each week I still find it to be a worthy topic.  The pillar of perseverance is what drew me to Eagle Ridge Academy, but I find it to be the one we as adults have the most trouble allowing students to learn.  Our teachers understand the importance of perseverance.  Nothing means more than to accomplish something you have worked so hard to do.  It is often hard as an adult to watch a child struggle to learn or accomplish something.  We want to step in and help ease the way for them, but we all have to take a step back and remember how good we have felt when we finished something on our own.  When we jump in to make things easier we are taking away important life lessons and experiences from children.  Here is the circle on perseverance the students see each day in the hallway.

Homeroom classes did activities related to perseverance last week.  Mrs. Palm’s kindergarten class read The Little Engine That Could.  Now when Mrs. Palm says the word perseverance the students say “I think I can, I think I can.”  Ms. Gillitzer’s kindergarten class read the same book and each student created a box car with something he/she was going to work on this year (tying their shoes, read a book on their own, make a goal in soccer, etc.)

Mrs. Madigan had Mr. O’Brien from the Upper School come down and give her students a lesson in perseverance by teaching them how to make an origami crane.  If you have ever made origami, you know if you miss one step your piece will not turn out.  The fourth graders had to really persevere to make their cranes. Here is a picture of some of the completed cranes.

Fall conferences are coming up.  They are on Monday, October 14^th from 8am to 8pm and on Tuesday, October 15^th from 8am to 11:30am.  The conference scheduler (Virtual Paragon) will open on October 1^st and close on October 10^th.  Please click on the link during those dates to schedule conferences with your child’s teacher.  http://www.virtualparagon.com/eagleridge/conference/

All parents are invited to Eagle Ridge Academy on Friday, October 4th from 5:30 to 8:30pm to our Classical Education Parent Night. Mr. Andrew Kern from the CiRCE Institute will give a presentation about  Classical Education.   Mr.  Kern coauthored the book Classical Education: Movement Sweeping the Nation. Refreshments will be served and we look forward to seeing you there.  To learn more, please visit http://www.eagleridgeacademy.org/event/2013-10-04-223000-2013-10-05-013000/530pm-classical-training-parents

Last week I announced MDE would have MCA II results to our school by October 18^th.  According to our latest communication from MDE, this has been delayed.  We will let you know when you can expect the results, as soon as we have further communication regarding them from MDE.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Baier