Primary Thoughts

Neil Mufson, Head of School

 

In a few days you will receive a link to a PDS webpage that will host a wealth of summer academic learning resources, from math activities to reading suggestions, for each of our grade levels. Our classroom teachers and resource team have gathered these resources because we know that over the summer, without our students regularly maintaining their academic skills, there will be a significant loss of learning come September. While summers provide a welcome change of pace, activities, and locales, it is still important to make time for some academic-kind of work at least three or four times a week.

 

In addition to keeping your children’s reading, writing, math, and thinking skills sharp over the summer, you also have the opportunity to keep alive this year’s very significant focus on our Primary Day values. All of our students can tell you what each of our values mean and most can give you examples of corresponding behavior. One of the reasons our values work has been powerful is that our teachers have been united in using them as the framework for the kind of behavior we expect. When teachable moments arise, our teachers often use the related PDS values to reinforce or describe the related words and concepts we have discussed, read about, wrote about, and thought about from the earliest days of the school year.

 

We arrived at our list of values after faculty, staff, and parents worked to discern and come to consensus around what they thought were the most important ideals to try to instill within our children. As your family shifts into summer mode, keep talking about kindness, honesty, gratitude, respect, responsibility, patience, cooperation, determination, and empathy. Academics surely are important, but helping parents raise good people is our most essential task. Best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful summer!