Celebrate this week

This week my forth graders listened to different teachers form our school. Each shared what they believe in and how their beliefs guide them in life. They didn't speak of religion but of personal philosophies. Like a beautiful thread the theme of kindness run through the stories.  We have spoken a lot about kindness, about filling buckets, kindness boomerang, ripples of kindness. The fourth graders are writing about their own beliefs and several of them bring the theme of kindness to their writing. This is what I celebrate.

Last week the switch from mellow winter holiday to energy consuming work left me exhausted and as it sometimes happens when squeezed empty of energy, the words had disappeared from me too. I couldn't write a celebration. I was a bit better prepared mentally for this week. My days were a bit more balanced, I took more moments to breathe (including mindfulness exercises with my students), several times a day I listed in my head the things to be grateful for (for example trusting conversations with my students and two productive coaching sessions with colleagues this week), and made sure I filled my cup with fun things (theatre on Thursday as a cherry on top).  This is what I celebrate. 

Our Estonian teacher invited all the students and teachers to contribute a poem to the 100th birthday of Estonia (24th of February). She has a plan to put the poems into a poetry book. The students had no problem writing the poems. The teachers reacted with "I can't write" statements. My first reaction was the fear of judgment. I didn't write anything for the first deadline. Then I found printed out next to the printer two poems my close friends had written. The teacher announced the extended deadline and I felt the pull to contribute. I wrote and submitted my short poem. This is what I celebrate. 

I hope to read more celebrations at Ruth's blog.

Wishing you many reasons to smile this weekend!