We wanted to start this week by sharing how our students amaze us. We make it our practice to celebrate kids each and every day.  These are some things we observed our students doing today.

• Yaakov finished his math problems and saw that another classmate was struggling. He quickly scooted over and asked if he could lend a hand.  Sitting side by side, he modeled and prompted ways to try it out. He took on the role of teacher as he taught his classmate how to do the subtraction work and even gave him a tool (number line) to help him out.
• Olivia was engrossed in writing a letter about her favorite book Ivy and Bean. She wasn’t sure how she wanted to end her letter to get the biggest impact. 

Amalia eagerly offered to listen to her letter and gave her feedback on whether she should end with a question or a sound effect. Together the girls decided that a question at the end was just the thing the letter needed.

• The children entered the classroom and gathered around the hermit crab. After the crowd dispersed Jake stayed back to talk to Alex who had many questions about what a hermit crab needs to grow bigger and stronger.  Jake has several hermit crabs as pets and spent some time answering Alex’s questions and helping him grow his knowledge about our classroom pet.
• Kira came skipping down the hallway holding hands with a teary eyed kindergartener. I said, “Good morning” and she told me how she saw this girl crying on her way to class and she told her she would walk her down.  The girl smiled and said, “Kira is my new friend.”

These are just a few highlights of the generous and beautiful things that are happening every day in our classroom.  It would be easy to miss these moments, to get caught up in everything else that is going on around us. We choose to notice and to celebrate.