PPBF: Dear Boy,

Happy Friday from Friendswood, where it's dewberry season.

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Dancing Up A Storm

Today I'm excited to share the story of one of the special schools

on our kindness map. 

Meet my friends from Londonderry School in Pennsylvania.

Click on the image for more information on Londonderry School.

We haven't known each other very long; in fact, we were just recently introduced by a force of nature named Harvey.

Hurricane Harvey.

After the storm, their Art teacher Ms. Hardwicke phoned

to ask how they could help us recover.

She'd gotten my name from someone who knew me from somewhere; 

we never did quite figure out our connection.

But we instantly became friends as we brainstormed

how they might help provide hurricane relief.

After a few emails and phone conversations,

she told me that her student leaders met and were planning

a Dance-A-Thon/Hop-A-Thon.

They're a small private school, she told me, 178 students strong.

They chalked the walks with inspiration;

 a first grader offered his mom's talents for this chalk art activity.

Here's what else I've found out about this amazing school family:

Each year, students volunteer to take part in Kid's Committee. They generally select two representatives from each class, first - eighth grade. This year they have a total of 14 students who have joined kids committee. The committee meets eight to ten times a year during lunch recess to brainstorm ideas and plan events to raise funds for school and community needs and occasionally for natural disaster recovery needs. Generally their funds are raised with an annual Kids Art Auction, A Used Toy Raffle, Ice Cream Sundae sales, and Hop/Dance-A-Thons for special community needs, all ideas that came from the children. 

For this event, a third grader offered her mom's face-painting talents; many seventh and eighth graders helped paint the faces. 

Two seventh grade boys volunteered to DJ; a parent who is a real DJ offered to bring his equipment and help them. 

They even played and dedicated Deep in the Heart of Texas to us

 while they did some line dancing. I was flying to Vermont at the time and I'm pretty sure I felt the earth rumble as they boot scooted in our honor.

Dear Cynthia Hardwicke and our forever friends at Londonderry School:

 You have touched us deep in our hearts here in Friendswood, Texas. 

Your generous donation of $4580.00 will help our teachers, our students, and their families restore and rebuild.

Not only are you chalking the walks and dancing up a storm,

but you are clearly walking your talk as you lift others up. 

Thank you for being shining stars and examples

of empathy, compassion, and kindness in our world.

We are so grateful.

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The Tree Stands Alone

Today I'm exhausted, just dog tired.

It has been a difficult, emotionally-loaded week.

Shock has worn off and a grave reality has begun to set in.

Just over 10% of our students have been displaced because of flooding and are living in apartments, campers, hotels, with family, with strangers who have become friends by necessity. On Friday, there were lots of tears, because they're tired, too. But I'm also energized because this morning, this happened.

Dressed in a live generously shirt, FISD School Board member Pastor Ralph, knocked on the door at about 9 am with his chainsaw in hand; not too far behind him, a crew led by my friend Carol showed up with their tree removal equipment,

to help us get rid of this Arizona Ash tree that Harvey toppled.

It took our crew about three hours to go from this ...  

to this. 

I was especially touched that this man, Forest, would be a part of our crew as his home was one of the 3,000 houses in our town to flood. His sister lost her home, too, and yet, there he was, in our yard, helping get that tree out of our back yard.

 When the truck filled up, the rest was neatly stacked to the side,

ready for us to fill and carry off a second load later in the week.

It's sad to me, to lose a tree like this, but also interesting to get a sneak peek inside. Pastor Ralph was quick to point out that its rings tell its story; the thin rings were bad years for this guy, the thicker ones, good. It tells a story of survival through tropical storms, a ground saturated with flood waters, hurricane-force winds and the draught.

And finally, it fell right over in Harvey because it was

the last tree standing in what used to be its protective grove.

And so it goes in real life with human kind, too.

When we are surrounded by that community of family and friends

to hold us up when gale-force winds threaten to topple us,

it's a whole lot easier to survive and thrive than when

we, like this tree, attempt to stand alone.

And so, another Harvey lesson is this:

 Life is too hard to go it alone.

Together we're stronger.

All. As one forest.

Last night at our first home game under Friday Night Lights,

we saw evidence of this truth when we played the Kingwood Mustangs.

Many of these teenagers lost not only their homes, but also their school. They are now attending school somewhere else; among their losses, band uniforms and football uniforms. But life must go on, so they borrowed football garb and the band wore casual dress. To honor their burden and support their healing, our band opted to not wear our uniforms, but to go casual as well. A small thing that meant a lot to our friendly rivals, the other Mustang blue team.

And this, the message from our Superintendent

that played on the jumbotron to kick off the game.

So many of you have sent cards of empathy and encouragement; thank you, thank you. Each student that I saw on Friday got to choose one of your beautiful expressions of comfort and love. I coupled them with a reading of Marianne Richmond's treasure, Be Brave Little One, after which we each shared a one-word reflection about the storm and/or the notes.

Out of that natural disaster known as Hurricane Harvey

have come supernatural acts of compassion and care.

We have appreciated every single note, text, email, phone call.

Each one helps us move forward into our healing with hope.

On Tuesday night, our parents at Orientation will be invited

to fill out a card for our school's hope chest.

Faculty and staff have already filled ours out; 

students will be sharing their hopes and dreams, too.

In case you missed my We Are Teachers guest post this week,

click {here} to read about how it went on our first few days back.

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Pursuing Perfection, Catching Excellence

Happy Saturday; today I'm excited to have a day
with absolutely nothing to do.
Not one thing.
I slept in until 10 am. Decadent.
And I may meander to the salon for a pedi at some point.
But mostly, I'm just taking the day to breathe.
Breathe in the goodness of another miraculous day.
A chance to relax, restore, refresh, recharge.
No running around.
No rat race.
No chaos or confusion.
A chance to just BE.
And reflect.

Look what I found on Twitter as I was enjoying every last drop

 of my morning candy bar in a cup coffee.

Click graphic for source.

Perspective. From Peter Pan. Perfect.

Wait, did I just say perfect?

Okay, time to talk about perfection,

because the struggle is real. 

At least for me it is.

Because I used to still want things to line up perfectly.

It may be part of how I'm hard-wired, that need for order.

And I'd like to say that I'm getting better at 

adapting and accepting

when they don't align the way I'd

envisioned,

hoped,

dreamed 

they would.

That is, after all, a huge piece of growth mindset.

Accepting mistakes as part of the process.

Embracing failure as a success.

Letting go of that perfection ideal.

But I still mix up catching excellence

with the pursuit of perfection. Practically every day.

That's why this Lombardi quote speaks to me, I suppose.

Because he's right; perfection isn't attainable.

It's not supposed to be.

So who's with me in the fight against those persistent perfectionistic tendencies

that threaten to thwart our propensity to practice grace 

and our potential to maximize growth?

Because it's the journey that matters,

the chance to stretch and sightsee,

inspire and influence,

support and savor

as we keep moving forward.

Can I hear an amen?

In case you missed it, here's my respect guest post
from earlier this week.

Have I mentioned how grateful I am to be

on assignment with Free Spirit Publishing?

It's so kind of them to invite me share my 

perspective, 

reflections,

ideas 

and activities 

with their readers.

  

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Make A Mark

Happy International Dot Day! 

Have you seen Emily Arrow's new song based on Peter Reynolds' book ISH yet? 

Isn't she just precious-ish?

I'll admit it; I went all fan girl when she Tweeted me that she's working on the sheet music for the ukulele.

I'm on it!

And there's another ukulele sensation on the scene; 

have you seen this little singer songwriter?

Amazing Grace. I admire how she's making her mark,

one original song at a time, big time!

The ukulele really is a magical little instrument,

especially when you have these little rays of sunshine

singing and clapping along. So many blessings.

It has been a busy few weeks as we get another school year way under way. This past week at Parent Night I tried something new, a seed that grew from a collaboration with Susan, a counseling colleague in PA. This ... 

became THIS!

There are so many sweet sentiments on this wall of fame, 

our caregivers' hopes, goals, and dreams for their children, 

many of which have nothing to do with academics. 

One of my favorites? 

You can ... be a rainbow of joy. 

So touching.

We also celebrated our grandparents with a breakfast ... 

and car hopped through Happy Hour at Sonic!

A FUNdraising end to a terrific week.

How have you been making your mark?

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David & Goliath

Today I'm thinking about that little shepherd boy from the Bible named David and that giant he faced called Goliath and the metaphor that their story is ... for life.

It's probably because we went to San Antonio for the State-level Science Fair this weekend and what we saw, felt, and experienced just blew us away; 

project after project with words we couldn't pronounce, 

research that would never cross our mind to pursue, 

and experiments that we wouldn't know where to start to reproduce.

And then there was our Joshua David. 

His project, which came out of the Houston Science Fair a first-place winner in the Earth and Space Science category, really seemed small and somewhat insignificant at State in comparison with the others, the upper classmen with their professional-looking double-board posters and their equally impressive business dress. Some of the participants even did their projects in an Independent Study Mentorship (ISM) class. With a mentor. In some cases, as an extension of a summer internship. Joshua wasn't feeling very confident. At all. 

But he had taken pride in his work, his experiment was creative, and he enthusiastically explained it to anyone who wanted to learn. He wasn't sure that'd be enough, but it must have made an impact with the judges, because Impact Craters: What Your Angle? took second place against the giants. 

On our way home, we stopped at the same Freddy's where {this story} about custard kindness happened just last week.

So let's upack this metaphor with some reflections: 

What giants are you facing?

Who is there to support, help and encourage you?

How will they know what you want and need from them?

How will you know when you've done enough?

How will you celebrate your victory?

On another happy note, we got to see our billboard yesterday, 

beautifully-framed by the San Antonio skies.

Turns out, you don't have to be a giant to be a superhero.

I'm thankful to The Joy Team for our partnership

and hopeful that our inspirational message might 

equip, encourage and empower 

a present-day David (or two) to face those giants

with strength, purpose, and grace.

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PPBF: The Hero In Me

A superhero book for PPBF? Shezam!

Title: The Hero in Me

Author: Susan Fitzsimonds

Illustrator: Jeff Covieo

Publisher: Ferne Press

Date: February 15, 2012 

Suitable for: Elementary-aged children

Themes: choices, heroes, kindness

Realistic Fiction/Social Issues

Brief synopsis: This rhyming self-help text talks its readers through real-life situations and scenarios to empower them with the skills they need to take a stand against bullying and unleash the hero within.

Opening page: 

There's a hero in me. It's not hard to find.

I have to listen to my heart, soul, and mind.

Each day of my life I have choices to make.

These choices decide which road I will take.

One road is positive; it makes me feel proud.

The other is not; I just follow the crowd.

Resources: Visit the author's website for activity ideas {here}.

Read all about the book in The Voice {here}.

Click {here} for my superheroes Pinterest page.
Find these superhero coloring pages {here}.

Decorate your hallways with superhero bulletin boards:

Check out the author's young son talking about the book here:

Ellen, seriously, let us know when he's coming on your show,
 'cause this kid needs a cape!

Why I like this book: Sometimes learners just need a reminder that life is all about choices. Every day with every action we get to choose to be kind or unkind. Validation from the book:

It's not always easy. In fact it's quite hard
to do the right thing, never let down my guard.
I need to be thoughtful, patient, and kind,
help people out when they get in a bind.
I'm sure to face struggles each passing day.
That's fine 'cause I solve them the "hero in me" way.

And it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of superheroes. Seeing character values and strengths as superpowers turns what could be an abstract concept into something much more concrete. Superheroes see problems and jump in with solutions. They are brave and courageous and they know right from wrong. In fact, they work tirelessly to right wrongs. Every day.

In the back of this empowerment tool, you'll find these enrichment pages with helpful proactive and reactive tips:

A Hero's Guide to Reporting a Bully
A Hero's Guide to Standing Strong
20 Things a Hero Might Say to a Bully
A Hero's Tips for Good Friendship

Have your superheroes write an acrostic from the word HERO.

H - Help

         E - Encourage

     R - Respect

 O - Obey

Or encourage them to write an echo-cadence like this one:

There you have it. The end. Happy Friday.

For more PPBF picks, fly on over to Susanna's blog {here}.

17

E Is For Encouragement

Today I'm up at school doing kindergarten screenings.

I can't wait to meet these little superheroes. 

Here are my two creations from yesterday.

This one was inspired by the boards {here}.

If U R Frozen, we're hAPPy to help.

Such a kick, when it all comes together and makes a great visual.

Now, it's time to get back to our book study.

I can't wait to read what Jana and Danielle have to say about

encouragement. 

There might even be a chance to win a signed copy ... just sayin' ...

This was posted online yesterday; isn't it so true?

And I found this one last week:

Click graphic for source.

When I got to this chapter, I vacillated momentarily between excellence and encouragement, but I really felt like it was important to include the word courage, that all-important antidote to fear. Fear underlies so many of the issues that I help children {and adults!} process. And yes, even superheroes need a healthy dose of encouragement and cheer.

Need some ideas and inspiration?

Let's start with Sesame Street.

*If you aren't using Dr. Jean's cheers to celebrate in your classroom, I'd encourage you do try them. You can download picture cards for your Cheer box {here}.

*Marissa has some awesome ideas for helping with courage {here}.

*Your Voice Of Encouragement has a thought-provoking post {here}.

*Alfie Kohn's Encouraging Courage article is available {here}.

Who do you know who has the gift of encouragement?

Have you thanked him or her lately?

How will you encourage someone today?

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