Hopes and Dreams

Good evening!

Today was the day that we finally got to write our hopes and dreams for the school year! We have been talking about it since day one but MY oh my does the time fly! I feel as though each school day just zips by, and we hardly ever get to everything that I have planned for the day.

In any case, students have been prepping and planning to write their hopes and dreams for days now and they were SO ready to get them on paper today! Take a look:

There are SO many great read-alouds for getting kids to think about goals for the school year, however for younger age children, I like to stick to ones with fairly simple story lines that everyone can relate to. Here are a couple of titles that I like to use while introducing hopes and dreams. I like both of them because they are fun and emphasize failures, mistakes, and trying again:

Next, I send a letter home to parents sometime during the first two weeks of school. In that letter, I explain the importance of goal-setting and encourage them to take part in the process by writing their hopes and dreams for their child on a paper star. (This is not an original idea; this is something that I learned from my teammates while teaching first grade years back. I love how it involves family in the process!)

Get your copy of this parent letter HERE!

Next, we brainstorm ideas for what our hopes and dreams could be and begin writing! Call me crazy...but my husband and I are huge Kanye West fans. In one of his songs, he said, "Shoot for the stars, and if you fall you'll land on a cloud." Without even really realizing it, that is the quote that inspired me to create a cloud themed paper for students to use for their hopes and dreams:

Download HERE

I like the combination of the parent star with the cloud, and that quote makes me think that you should shoot for both goals. What I've learned over the years is that the parent stars tend to be overall wellness goals, whereas student goals are more specific and measurable (of course!). So I think Kanye's quote kind of works? Maybe? I don't know...but it turns out cute and meaningful, anyway!

At the end, I always LOVE to read Rosie Revere, Engineer as a way to inspire kids to keep trying for their goals, even if they face adversity. It is the best book I've read so far for putting a focus on how Effort=Achievement in learners. Students love it, too!

I hope you have fun creating your hopes and dreams with your students! Until next time...