hopes and dreams: finn and scout

i attended 'back to school' night at explorer last week
and have been anxious to record the exciting night.

with two kids at the same school, dividing time between
each of their classrooms for any event is challenging.
since i already knew scout's teacher {she was finn's asst. teacher for
kinder and 1st grade year}, i spent the entire time in finn's 5th grade classroom,
getting to know miss laura zimmer, a teacher who is new to me.

parents were instructed to sit at their child's desk {which fortunately had a nametag},
and to start by reading their hopes and dreams sheet.  finn's list read:

- build lego robots in science
- get better at math
- learn more about space
- build boats and test them
- build a small rocket in science

none of these were a surprise to me,
but they certainly let his teacher know what is near and dear to his heart.

within just a few minutes of listening to miss zimmer tell us about herself,
and her hopes and dreams for our children this school year, i was smitten
with this young woman's enthusiasm and passion for teaching.
{i felt the same with scout's kinder teacher}.

she talked about the importance of being lifetime learners.
{i smile because c and i use that term at home}

we learned miss zimmer is a lifetime learner, always pushing herself to do new things
{read new books, learn a new language, try solving math problems differently}. 
her goal is to instill this same principle in her students, and part of this includes teaching
them about their brain - how it works and how it learns. wow!! {finn will love this}

i whispered to a mom friend next to me "she's the kind of girl i dream of my boys bringing
home someday".  she whispered back "me too"! she went on to say she is a huge lover
of books and pointed out the shelves stocked with books in her classroom.
she also has 7 nooks students can  check out and bring home. i couldn't stop smiling.
i couldn't have handpicked a better teacher for finn. {he gets the science stuff on his own,
this teacher will help strengthen him in other areas he needs help with}

i dashed to scout's 2nd class to quickly say hello to ms. manguil, and to pick up the packet that
was prepared for me to review. i found scout's hopes and dreams note. it read:

- i hope that i can go on a  family trip to hawaii to surf in the warm water
- i hope that i can go camping with my family again
- i hope that i can go back to florida and see my grandma and grandpa
- i hope that my family can all get better at tennis so we can all play each other. 
- i hope that i can get better at playing the piano so that i can play for my family.
- i hope that me and my dad can modify our R.O.V. so that we can explore Mission Bay.

i really enjoyed reading these.  some of his hopes were new to me, other's weren't.
the trip to hawaii to surf in warm water was and boy does that sounds wonderful
{that's on my list too}. *grin* someday....

~ c was is sacramento for an architecture thing for a few days last week,
so he wasn't able to join me for parents night.  i called him on my way home to tell
him all about the evening and how excited i was about the boys' teachers.

as finn said over dinner this weekend, it's going to be a great year.
{i think so too}