Relax, renew, and recharge

It's an overused quote from Aaron Rodgers, but it is fitting at this time of year.  R-E-L-A-X.

You deserve it and, more importantly, you need it.  Please take time away from all things school related for as many days as possible.  Relax on the couch or in your favorite chair or on a walk or wherever you best relax.  Renew your goals for the school year or alter them, if necessary.  Recharge with a friend or family member or colleague.  I've found a new interest in Board and Brush with Jen and Lauren so maybe we'll find a day to go back there.  Or maybe I'll get outside for a run when it's light out and the temperature and wind cooperate.  Or maybe I'll find a book or two to read.  Whatever it is that you do over break, come back with that beginning of the year mentality and see how long you can ride the wave.  It will make things better for you and for our kids.
*Speaking of books, I think that I lent out two books recently- "#KidsDeserveIt" and "Thanks for the Feedback."  If you have either of these, just let me know.  If you're finished, I'd love them back.  If you're not finished, keep on reading.

Great things I saw this week...

• Kids working together on videos for health class, and taking responsibility for their part of the project.
• Kids reading whenever they had the opportunity.
• Staff checking in on students that they know might have a difficult time this week due to the uncertainty of their break.
• Students sharing their learning with one another.
• Staff showing love to Jim and sending him off in the best way to see his family.
• Article in the Lake Country Reporter on DeSTEMber.
• Staff stepping in to help students they don't even work with regularly.
• Great brunch provided by the PTO.  Wow!
• Maintaining expectations for learning every day this week.
• So many staff using the #mertonint hashtag to share all that is Merton!
• SST meeting before school to discuss what can be done here at school to make things better for a student.
• Lots of school spirit for the Student Senate Spirit Week.

Calendar
Monday, January 2nd

• Welcome back!

Tuesday, January 3rd

• I start coaching 8th grade basketball
• Practices are 7:00-8:15 almost every morning
• Homework Club 4:15-5:15

Thursday, January 5th

• Grade level and Specials meetings all day
• MAPs schedule discussion
• Homework Club 4:15-5:15

Friday, January 6th

• Good calls home
• One call per teacher
• Send down when it's convenient for you (Barb will find me!)

Saturday, January 7th

• Choirs sing at the Milwaukee Wave game

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
"A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying...that he is wiser today then he was yesterday."- Alexander Pope, poet
10 Simple Rules for Learning (from AJ Juliani)
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."- Albert Pike, writer and lawyer
"I have never felt that anything really mattered but the satisfaction of knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed, and had done the very best you could."- Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady, diplomat, and activist
"Mistakes are a part of being human.  Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way."- Al Franken, politician, writer, and entertainer
With just one simple tool (from Pernille Ripp)
@mertonint on Twitter
#mertonint on Twitter
Merton Intermediate School Facebook page
Board presentation from 12.19.16
Family smore from 12.22.16

Don't forget about our assembly at 3:45 in the gym today.  The Jazz Band will be playing and we'll be singing some holiday songs, too!  Which of you will be like Buddy the Elf?

It's a Wonderful Life
Although "Elf" is my all time favorite Christmas movie, followed closely by "Christmas Vacation" and "A Christmas Story" (Notice a theme there?), I am also a big fan of "It's a Wonderful Life".  The main character, George Bailey, reminds me so much of each one of you.  The impact George has on the little town of Bedford Falls is immeasurable.  He saves his brother who saves a transport of soldiers during the war.  He saves the town during the Great Depression, canceling his honeymoon in the process.  He saves Mary from a life with Sam Wainwright.  He saves the people of the town with an alternative to Pottersville.  And he does all of this without asking for anything in return.  You all remind me of George because of your selfless nature with our kids and each other.  This quote from Clarence the angel sums it all up for me- "Strange, isn't it?  Each man's life touches so many other lives.  When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
I hope that you realize the impact that you have on our kids.  As Zuzu Bailey says at the end of the movie, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."  Know that when the bell rings to end the day today, you will all have earned your wings.

Be the one!
Jay Posick
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell