Captivating Kindness

Today I'm grateful for this extra-special delivery that's just oozing with empathy, compassion, kindness, connection, and love.

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Dancing The Holiday Hustle

It's almost December; ready or not, here come the holidays.

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Connections Countdown Calendar 2021

'Tis the season; let the holiday festivities begin!

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Inspiring Gratitude

Today I'm grateful. For every breath. For every step.

For family and friends. For fellowship and faith.

For another chance to make gratitude a verb.

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Frolic With The Foodie Flamingo

Happy Friday; today I'm thinking about #B2S books.

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PPBF: Stuck

Today I'm thinking about Mindset since that's the theme of my May calendar and today's PPBF. Click {here} for a freebie download.

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Recalculating 365

I know, I know, it's not even mid-March yet, but

I'm working ahead, so here's my April calendar.

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Empathy And Mindfulness

Today I'm thinking about empathy and feeling grateful to 

my friend Jennifer, who sent this Plato wisdom my way recently. 

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From Silos To Bunkers

How can it be that in less than a week it'll be February already?

In preparation, I spent yesterday making this friendship resource.

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PPBF: Sugar In Milk

Today I'm excited for our first PPBF of the new year.

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A Catalyst For Caring

Today I'm excited because we are on our annual Thanksgiving trek;

before we left, we saw this in front of our neighborhood Elementary.

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Self-Care In The Driver's Seat

Happy November. Did you have Trick or Treaters for Halloween last night? 

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Using Gratitude & Kindness To Weather Life's Storms

Today I'm thinking about the weather, in part because

it's not feeling like Christmas here weather-wise. At all.

In fact, we were sweating as we hung the outdoor lights yesterday.

Meanwhile, my friend Laurel sends me winter pictures like this:

Am I really sure I want to go there next month? Brrrrrrrrr.

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Kindness: The Writing's On The Wall

Happy new year. How is 2017 going so far?

This morning I was all goofed up, because we had a work day Monday, which meant students didn't come back until yesterday. So I woke up thinking today was Tuesday, not Wednesday, and that meant I didn't wear a character shirt. I've been wearing a character shirt every Wednesday for the last fifteen years. 

But not today. 

I totally missed it.

So before school, when a third-grade girl told me that it felt like a Tuesday, I told her I thought so, too, and that I'd forgotten to wear my Wednesday character tee. Then she said that I could easily fix that and suggested that I make a word cloud with all of our pillar words and then tape it on to my new sweater. 

Problem solving at its finest, so innocent, thoughtful and sweet.

This week, I set aside some time to create this kindness calendar.

We've sent home countdown calendars before, 

but I've never thought to put a life-sized one up.

One fourth grader who passed by kindly pointed out 

that the daily numbers are missing, but I replied that because

kindness knows no calendar, I'd left them off on purpose.

Though I'm not certain she was totally on board with that,

she let me know that her birthday was on the 11th, so we counted ahead to find her square and talked about what kind act she could show to celebrate her big day. It was perfect, she said, because

she could send thank-you notes for her birthday presents.

Do I have the best job or what?

So we're having fun as we launch into January and gear up for the Kids For Peace Great Kindness Challenge at the end of the month. What engaging things do you have planned as you kick off second semester?

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Make Every Day Kindness Day

Happy World Kindness Day.

As we get ready to launch into the most wonderful 

time of the year,

I'm reminded that kindness knows no calendar.

And yet, if want to warm our world as winter sets in,

what better way than through intentional acts

of compassion, service and love?

So here are some low-and-no-cost ideas

for a Kindness Connections Countdown

that we'll be sending home to our families.

Click the graphic to download yours today.

For more kind-act ideas, WonderMomWannaBe posted her

ideas for Christmas Kindness for Kids {here}.

Enjoy basking in the glow of making every day

Kindness Day!

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A 'Tweet' Way To Give Thanks

Today I'm grateful because Free Spirit Press invited me to be a guest blogger in their Counselor's Corner column while Danielle is away on maternity leave. My first post for them, After The Trauma: Treating PTSD in Children, is now live.  

I'm also happy because of the fun I had with this idea:

It's gratitude with a twist because I put this basket in the staff lounge ... at my old school, to 'tweet' my former faculty, to #CelebrateMonday by being thankful.

Author Douglas Wood said it best: We don't give thanks because we are happy. We are happy because we give thanks.

I also updated my Connections Countdown calendar with a few new connection ideas as we prepare for the holiday season. 

Click {here} to download your copy.

Might be kind of cool to give your students a blank copy

and see what innovative ideas they'd like to try.

Megan over at Coffee Cups and Crayons has something similar, a Random Acts of Christmas Kindness calendar; click {here} to download hers.

Even NBC is climbing aboard the Kind-Acts Train. 

Click {here} for details about their #ShareKindness campaign.

Finally, check out this Gratitude Experiment clip.

I think you'll be glad that you did.

How did you #CelebrateMonday?

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A Kindness Calendar

Happy December, the month of uncommon goodness and love. This month at the Corner, I'll be spotlighting some climate changers that I've met, collaborated with, and been inspired by in 2014.  Let's start up in Illinois with special education teacher and peace educator David Curry (@PrimarilyPeace). 

Look at this thoughtful Kindness Chart he created last week:

Click graphic to visit the Primarily Peace website.

When a tweet came through our feed asking if we'd seen a calendar like this, Mr. Curry went to work on this one. Talk about a kind act. I'm planning to adapt it on a bulletin board today; I can't wait to see what develops. 

We traded Character Ts. 

This one's coming my way:

It's so fun to connect with and learn from like-minded educators. Thank you, David Curry, for making our world a more peace-filled place to be.

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Happy Heart Kid Kits

 Today I'm excited because I get to share a new product I recently discovered over at my friend Leanna's blog {here}. Introducing the Happy Heart Kid, whose mission - to inspire families to engage in Character Building Activities through play - totally aligns with my work and passion.

Inspire. Engage. Empower.

These Play With Purpose kits spotlight virtues like self-control, generosity, kindness, patience, courtesy, diligence, helpfulness, unity, responsibility, courage and more. I recently dug into this awesome kit for teaching empathy, which includes interactive activity ideas, stories, games, and notes for parents.

All brilliantly engaging, the activities in these kits are designed to be interactive and spark the curiosity and creative of our budding empathy experts. Since I'm a firm believer that naming something gives it credence, I instantly liked the idea of making an empathy placard.

I know that my learners will connect with the Feelings Faces and Felt Flowers and I can't wait to try them out in small group counseling classes in December. 

If you're in search of an interactive, creative product to help develop character in your superheroes, check out these kits by connecting with Happy Heart Kid:

Happy Heart Kid website

Kickstarter campaign

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When we elevate empathy, kind acts aren't far behind. 

Need a few ideas for December? Here's an updated version of the 

Kindness Connections Calendar I posted last year.

Visit Coffee Cups & Crayons for a Random Acts of 

Christmas Kindness Calendar {here} and Raising Lifelong Learners for a Kind Acts Smorgasbord {here}. Brad Aronson's blog also had an extensive list of ideas {here}.

I'll be unplugging this week to spend time with family and friends, resting, restoring, and giving thanks. I hope you'll take the time to do the same. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Connections Countdown Calendar

Today I'm excited about getting back to work after a week off and sharing a spinoff of my Kindness Countdown Calendar from last December. 
It's a Connections Calendar; click it to download.

And while we know that kindness, joy, love and caring certainly aren't exclusive to (nor can they be constrained by) an end-of-the-year calendar, here are some links to other festive December ideas:

An Advent Calendar at 100 Days of Real Food {here}.

Christmas Countdown Activities at Living Montessori Now {here}.

Pennies of Time Holiday Service Projects Pinterest Page {here}.

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