Tuesday, September 1, 2015 Dear Students and Families, As part of our new ‘Take a Walk in My Shoes Project’, we will be creating “life boxes” that contain a few objects that represent something about you or your families. Items can represent, concepts such as:

• Things you like • Things you dislike • Something representing your family heritage/background • Activities/Hobbies that you participate in • And whatever else you can think of!

Please come to school next Tuesday, September 8, with a box (a shoe box if possible!) with items that represent you. Your box must contain between 5-7 items. Families, we will use our “life boxes” throughout our project for about the next 4 weeks. If there are particular items that you or your child do not wish to part with for this period of time, that’s okay! Your child can be creative and make pieces that represent that item. Thank you! Sincerely, Ms. Charlot

The person wearing these sneakers is running outside to play with her friends at recess. When she gets to them, they tell her she can’t play. How do you think she feels? If you saw this happen, what could you do or say to make her feel better? I am the dad of one little boy and we are homeless right now. It’s not like we’re living on the streets though. We’re in this nice program where we get to live at a church for two weeks before we have to go to another church. The people feed us and we have a place to sleep and show. I used to be a Librarian, but I don’t have a job right now. I am looking for work so that I can find somewhere for us to live and be able to pay bills. Put yourself in place of me. How do I feel? What do I need? What does my son need? My family and I just moved. I don’t like my new school because I don’t feel safe there yet. I really wish I could go back to my other school! This is my third day of missing school and my mom says she’ll get fired if she has to keep off taking work to stay home with me. Put yourself in my shoes. What do you think is going on with me? How can I f it in better at my new school so these butterfl ies in my tummy go away. What do I need? What does my mom need?