Families,

If you remember from last year or if your student shared that Mr. Burden gave them a penny for the gum ball machine – get ready because it is happening again this year! So to explain, a belief that we hold at Rolling Prairie Elementary is that every student matters. This is beyond just our mission to ensure high levels of learning for all students, it takes it a step further to say that who a student is, matters.

You have probably already felt this from your child’s teacher as they reach out to you about initial connections to start the year. Or the positive stories your child comes home telling about from their day at school. It is a core belief of all of us at Rolling to remember that how we make someone feels is a huge part of how they know and believe that they matter.

A meaningful way for me to show this to our students is knowing them by name, all 411 students. At Gathering on Monday I’ll be explaining this further to students and letting them also know how I plan to keep myself accountable – the gum ball machine. When I forget a student’s name, they get a penny from me to take to use for the gum ball machine in the office. This makes the “sting” of me forgetting in that moment not feel as much of a negative as I learn and get better. So if your child gets gum from Mr. Burden, that’s why :).

Your child matters to all of us at Rolling and we desire for them to believe that. As we each do our part to show students, it is important that I am part of that too. Thank you for sharing your child with us at Rolling, it is a responsibility we hold with respect beyond learning.

– David Burden

Principal

 Mr. Burden’s Newsletter