A Window Into Our Hearts

Today I'm grateful. And a little tense.

Probably because school was closed today due to

Tropical Storm Imelda and because

it has only been two years since a big storm

we know as Hurricane Harvey hit Houston hard.

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PPBF: Be Kind

Happy Friday; today I'm excited to share that I've been out

and about connecting with Kindness Crusaders.

Meet Mayra and look at what she made for me.

It's every bit as beautiful as her warm welcome was,

when I visited her McWhirter school family this week.

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Inspiring Mentorship

This evening as we close out another week, I'm on Cloud 9 about all of the amazing things going on at our school. One of my favorite annual events, our Round Up Carnival fundraiser, is just around the corner. In fact, the Fun Run is tomorrow morning. The generosity of our community really shines at Round Up time. From the countless hours of volunteerism leading up to the event, to the staff members who donate Teacher Treats and provide gathering opportunities to our students, to the giving family members who buy tickets not only for their own kids but for our families in need, I am blown away and stand in awe. Of all of it.

All of it, for the kids.

Thank you, Shelley Burgess, for this beautiful reminder.

We get more of what we focus on, so it just makes sense to affirm and encourage the positivity and passion of these dedicated volunteers and servant leaders.

Another reason I'm super energized this week is because I got to Skype with Paul Solarz's fifth graders in Illinois yesterday and I couldn't have been more impressed with this student-led classroom. Their plan is to mentor some kindergarten students in their school family and I was invited to empower and equip them 

with some start-up skills.

Because of some obvious front-loading, leadership and coaching from an award-winning educator, this pirate classroom could quite clearly run itself. Talk about your positive climate; I seriously didn't want the hour to end. We focused on strengths and self-esteem as we collaborated to launch their mentorship program.

I asked reflection questions like these: 

What is your superpower?

How do you use those superpowers for good?

Who is your superhero?

To whom are you a superhero?

What is your Kryptonite?

What superpowers will you use as you mentor? 

They asked me questions back:

What is my superpower?

Can a pet be a superhero?

What happens when I can't cheer someone up? 

What made me want to write the book?

What are some of the chapter titles?

What's the name of my website?

I challenged them to use their Covey wisdom and begin with the end in mind, then suggested a few activities that they could use as they build that relationship with their little buddies. In honor of National Poetry Month, they willingly and eagerly attempted my Empathy Switch poem and hand challenge with me.

So as I prepare to call it a day, my emotional reserve overflows with the assurance that there are students like my new friends at Westgate Elementary at the helm and taking the lead. 

Check out Learn Like A Pirate and see for yourself how you could set the course for such smooth sailing with your shipmates.

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A Citizenship Win-Win

Today I'm excited because I had the best day yesterday!

Our forty packages to the soldiers have arrived.

Here's a picture from Qatar; my friend Laura, whose son-in-law received the boxes there, calls it a "hug from home."

This batch of letters stayed Stateside

and made this soldier's week!

Yesterday we got to watch as these servicemen

opened their boxes from their base across the ocean.

One of them is on his eighth (8th!) deployment.

The other was in his first month with eleven to go.

Away from home. From family and friends.

For birthdays. And holidays.

Martin Luther King Day.

Valentine's Day.
St. Patrick's Day.

Easter.

Memorial Day.

Mothers' and Father's Day.

Independence Day.

Back to school time.

Labor Day.

Halloween.

Thanksgiving.

Can you imagine?

So we sent them some holiday cheer.

And they returned the favor by opening the boxes

in front of the 968 students who salute, thank, and appreciate them.

They were kind enough to give us permission 

to share our special Skype session with you.

And afterward, we got these gracious gifts from abroad:

Thank you – you made my day!!

Please reiterate to the children how much their support means to us.  When times get tough and the days get long, it is packages like these that make us smile and remind us what it’s all about.

Warm regards

You have no idea how much we were blessed. We were both pretty moved with the pledge and the moment of silence. We were extremely impressed with how disciplined and courteous the children were as well….and that is a testimony to the work you and the staff there are doing.

Again, thank you, your community, the school administration and teachers, and the students for all you did. It really motivated us and provided us an often needed reminder of why we are out here and what those of us who wear the cloth of our Nation signed up to do. It also reminded us that we are not forgotten…

PS. Please pass our thanks to all the parents who sent homemade treats. Honestly, we don’t get homemade treats in the boxes very often---so that was an unexpected bonus! Also, please thank the Friendswood Rotary Club for paying the postage for it to get here as well. I know the boxes are not cheap, so please pass on our thanks to them as well.

Seriously, they ended up thanking us.

Can you imagine?

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Elf Respect

So I had a lot of fun at school yesterday, reading my favorite holiday treasures to my students and visiting with my little friends about their winter break plans. The cutest thing I saw yesterday has to be this clever Tee with its play on words, perfect 'cause it cracks me up and who couldn't use a little laughter this week!

One of my knit-club mentors, Laura Danielson, gave me a new book for my collection, a gift that totally jumpstarted my day. Click the graphic to go to the book's website for more information about this new title that chronicles how young Annie overcomes obstacles to end up with a scarf.

Walking around school makes me feel festive. Our bulletin boards deck the halls with glitzy character messages. Second graders, for example, wrote about the greatest gifts underneath these lift-the-flap giftbox facades. It was heartwarming to read about their moms and dads, friends and pets and 
joy, caring and love.

In small group counseling classes, we used Ashley's delightful dice design from School Supply Addict to make small boxes. The girls left the lids unglued because they wanted to be able to put stuff inside; the boys glued all sides shut so that they'd have dice that they could play with or give away.

At lunchtime, I went off campus to watch my husband John conduct a class via Skype with some fifth graders in Missouri. What a memorable experience, I thought, to get to chat with a space scientist who works in Houston at NASA as if he were right there in the room. Thank you, Jordon, for giving him this opportunity to keep the passion for the space program alive and the dream for one day returning to the moon burning in our 
21st century learners.

After school, I had a blast as the guest chef at the gorgeous home of a student who's new to our school this semester. They hosted a candy class and and I got to teach four fifth-grade girls (and one adorable little brother!) how to make peanut butter balls. Such a delicious gathering! And then, as if I needed one more treat, a few school friends put the cherry on top when they stopped by my place to sing Christmas carols that totally put me in the holiday spirit.

I can't wait to see what today has in store for me!

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Endless Skype-Abilities

Social Studies by Skype? Sure thing. Soldiers by Skype?  You betcha! Science by Skype? Yeah, buddy. Seems that the Skype possibilities are endless. Just this week, Autumn Bockart's sixth-grade class at Friendswood Jr. High visited by Skype with my brother Mark in Milwaukee, Wisconsin about their project that involves creating an advertising campaign that champions a cause; he works for Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising and was able to answer their questions about billboards. Right before winter break, our third graders had a Skype chat with a solider on active duty in Iraq and we got to watch as he opened a care package from us.

Students reflect on John's visits

This Thursday, my husband John made a virtual visit  to Reagan Tunstall's first-grade classroom over near San Antonio to enrich their rock unit. In December, he did a similar lesson with Jordan's fifth graders up in Missouri following their Solar System study. What a memorable moment for these little learners to welcome a NASA scientist to their classroom! And Joshua's seventh-grade Social Studies class made several Skype calls to the students' older siblings; they visited with our future college kids live from their college campuses last Fall to enhance the school's college-awareness activities. I love the outreach and collaboration that this type of technology can provide. I recently found a blog with this list of authors who Skype.  For free!  How have you used Skype as a tool in your students' learning?

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S.O.S.

Each year, we thank our troops with notes and goodies in a service-learning project we call Santas for Our Soldiers. Click here to see video clips of the last two years; there's nothing like hearing all about it through the voice of our little patriots and the military families themselves. It's heartwarming to see our students write their letters and draw pictures for their heroes in guidance and equally rewarding to watch and listen as they delivered their donations to our Donation Station.  

Listen in as this cute kindie explains what he brought and why. He bought so much stuff for the soldiers he couldn't carry it all:

Our volunteer Elves will be feverishly completing customs forms over break so that our Leadership Academy can get the boxes packed and ready to ship when we get back. Last year we were able to send 129 care packages to our troops overseas as a small token of our appreciation for their service on our behalf. The Friendswood Rotary Club generously donated money for the first twenty boxes last year; this year they're paying for the first forty boxes we fill. It truly takes a village to pull off a project of this magnitude. To bring it full circle, we'll visit with a few of our soldiers via SKYPE and watch on the big screen as they open our boxes. Such an amazing opportunity to put citizenship and caring into action. 


December update:  We sent 89 boxes this year and found out that four of them have already reached the father of one of our students in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia. Here's a follow-up look at our packing process. 

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Skype U

My son Joshua came home from school the other day just SO excited because his 7th grade Advisory teacher announced that, as part of their College Readiness focus, they were going to be visiting with a college student by Skype. He promptly volunteered his sister, a college freshman studying architecture at the University of Texas. He called Kaitlyn and asked if she'd be available next Thursday at 12:40 because they'd like to ask her some questions about her life in Austin.  
     The day of the call, he got pulled a bit early from lunch so that he could help his teacher, who hadn't used Skype in the classroom before, set up for the call (thank goodness for digital natives!). When Kaitlyn called in, the class answered and she came up on the screen from right there on the UT campus. They gathered around the computer and asked questions that they'd prepared about things they'd want for a college kid to answer, questions like:  What kind of degree are you getting? What is the highest level of math you've had? What college are you at and how did you choose it?  Was it hard to get in? What do you do there? Are you into the spirit of college football? Where do you live? Do you have enough closet space for all of your clothes? 
     One student asked about where she was and she was able to explain that she was outside leaning against the granite-looking building where she takes one of her classes. Toward the end of their 20-minute visit as the bell was about to ring, the D.A.R.E. Officer entered the room and he asked her asked if she had been offered any drugs in college. Kaitlyn said that no, she hadn't seen any drugs since she got there in August, and added that drugs would certainly get in the way of her being the best she can be at a competitive place like UT. 
     Joshua says that next week they'll be Skyping Caleb's sister up in Kansas. What an engaging way for today's 21st century learners to connect with their role models, learn more about their post-secondary options, and help plan for their futures.

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Priority Mail

Sweets For Our Soldiers is

far and away my favorite project every year!  It brings our military men and women SO much joy to get priority mail from home; to watch them open our care packages over SKYPE brings that joy full circle!  But as you'll find out, it's not so much the stuff as it is the sentiments from the kids that make the biggest difference. 

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