Post Traumatic Growth

Happy Friday the 13th; July is just zooming by. This week, I've been learning about Post Traumatic Growth. Click the quote card to hear Roberto Rivera talk about it; I loved his explanation about how resilience brings us back to baseline but post-traumatic growth takes us higher, deeper, and wider.

Roberto is a self-proclaimed hope dealer; don't you love that?

According to author and speaker Scott Kaufman, hope is the number one predictor of resilience. Couple that with the info on this poignant picture from edu-hero

Katie Perez that took my breath away and gave me pause yesterday.

Such a strong wake-up call for Social & Emotional Learning

for every child, in every school, every moment of every day,

with every breath, every interaction, and every single word.

Speaking of words, as I was dusting in the Texas Room this morning,

I came across this blast from the past, three year's worth of words from our daughter's UIL Spelling and Vocabulary Team days. She worked so hard to learn all of these words, what they mean, and how to spell them.

And it paid off, too, because in May of her senior year,

she was crowned the Spelling & Vocab 4A Texas State Champ.

That, dear reader, was a tearful mommy moment,

because not only am I her proud mom, which is huge,

but I'm also an English major, a writer, and a wordsmith,

so to see my daughter following in my footsteps

was an incredibly joyful experience.

So when I finished dusting, I went to my bookshelf of treasures,

found my new favorite Peter H. Reynolds masterpiece,

disrupted Kaitlyn's alphabetized stacks of words,

and put the two side-by-side in this special shot.

Click the picture for a read-aloud of our picture book pick of the week. Better yet, order yourself a copy and step into the story of young Jerome, a word collector whose decision to share his collection rather than keep it leaves him satisfyingly speechless. Click {here} for some amazing curricular integration ideas. Then compare and contrast it with this other Word Collector.

Then encourage your word collectors to start a Joy Journal

to jot down, illustrate, and share the words that bring them joy.

Our chapter pick of the week for our older learners is one that you'll have to pre-order since it's not due on the market for another month. Just Breathe is filled with ideas to help practice mindfulness with all its relaxation and restorative empowerment. Click the poolside picture for an author interview.