Why I'm 'Hoppy' Today

Today I'm 'hoppy' because spring is in the air and we are on the

 final stretch into spring break. 

Yesterday, I got this fun package from my friend Laurel in Iowa, and now 

I've got bling to wear on character Wednesday!

Tucked inside this AdOrAbLe character tee was an envelope with some M.A.D.D. money. Let me back up a bit. You might remember my post in December about getting on Laurel's list for her homemade melt-in-your-mouth caramels. Anyway, she's a school counselor and blogger like me, so first we met by email, then we visited via Skype. We had planned to get together here during the third week in January to collaborate and compare notes about our Character Schools, but my automobile collision derailed those plans and postponed that meet-up. 

During National School Counseling Week, Laurel hosted a Penny-A-Thon at her school, Sibley-Ocheyedan Elementary. She told her school family that the class who would bring in the most pennies would earn an extra guidance lesson (I am so doing that next year!); how's that for an incentive? Anyway, I'm not sure that she knew just what to expect, but her students amazed her by bringing in an astounding 47,919 of their one-cent treasures. And which class won? Her twin sister's class brought in the most pennies, but the two classes behind them were so close that Laurel actually awarded the prize to the top three classes.

Then she shocked me (and made me cry!) by posting on her blog that they would be donating that money to the Southeast Texas branch of 

Mothers Against Drunk Driving 

in my name. Isn't that incredible? So today I'm feeling blessed by the generosity of Laurel and her students and eager to pay it forward when I put this envelope in today's mail.

Thank you, Laurel!

I'm also excited because look what the character cam spotted outside our positive behavior classroom just last week.

Another Beautiful Terri B. Creation!

My small-group counseling classes took an in-house field trip on Friday morning to look at this and reflect on this visual display. It was so interesting to let them talk about the bunnies and how they were feeling about their egg baskets. I especially loved that ah-ha moment when they realized that the red eggs represented bad choices and the greens and yellows represented good choices and warnings respectively.

Such a 'hoppy' feeling today!

Do you have a springtime board you'd like to showcase?
Click the graphic below to link up with Sunny Days.