Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2016
The Thumb Team
Today I'm feeling grateful to one of my third-grade girls, who surprised me this morning with this beautiful, one-of-a-kind necklace. What a terrific way to start my day, with the words, "Mrs. Gruener, I made this for you."
Shortly afterward and still basking in the glow of the warmth of her kindness, my friend and former Assistant Principal Mr. Whitlock stopped by with a surprise from The Thumb Team. A few weeks ago, he told me that he was leading a group of specials teachers during their Professional Learning Community (PLC) time that he fondly referred to as The Thumb Team. They're called that, he explained, because they sometimes feel a little different, like the thumb on a hand. But, he was quick to add, that they are as every bit as important to a school family as a thumb is to a hand. Isn't that a great analogy? So I offered to give them each a copy of my book if he'd like to lead a book study. He accepted, that study started on Tuesday, and he was bringing me a stack of bucket-filling thank-you notes. How much happiness can one heart take? I thought I might burst from the joy.
After school, I spent an hour with these superheroes.
We read Max's Magic Seeds,
then painted these character rocks
to plant around school and spread sunshine!
Before they left, because it's a Making Magic Community Education class, we learned how to put a second bottom into a bag and make it look like there's nothing in the bag because it is hidden between the two bottoms.
Have you ever tried that trick?
Yesterday, I had a Change Theory chat with the counselors in the district;
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| Slide adapted from CharacterCounts! 5.0 training. |
here's a link with a link to
The Elephant, The Rider & The Path clip I shared.
Finally, in case you missed our #CharacterEdChat tonight,
click the graphic below for the archive.
Happy weekend!
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
The Path To Peace
Today I'm excited because we're having our counseling classes on conflict resolution this week outside on our Peace Labyrinth that former Bales Principal Jay Stailey and his friend Reginald Adams designed for us and helped us paint.
The lesson goes something like this:
First I share this funny and engaging Sesame Street clip,
featuring the late Robin Williams,
to show students what conflict is and what conflict isn't.
Then we watch this clip featuring a common conflict, a fight that ensued between two students after one cheated from another.
Before we head outside to the Labyrinth to role play what happens the next day between Jimmy and Max, we talk about what collaborating using the five steps to problem solving would look like on our conflict-resolution Peace Labyrinth.
It's interesting, because as they predict what the steps are, most of the students want to go straight to a solution. Instead, the steps include:
1. State the problem.
2. State your feelings.
3. State the other person's feelings.
{We're calling this one the empathy stop!}
4. Brainstorm solutions.
5. Choose the best solution.
So we head outside, and role play an easy one first, to review the steps: I want to eat at McDonald's, and the student who volunteers to walk the path with me wants to eat at Chick fil A. Then, we select a volunteer to play Jimmy and a classmate to play Max, and we let them walk the path to peace.
We're so happy even our Labyrinth is smiling!
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Happiness Is ...
Get your happy on, because not only is it the official first day of spring, but it's also International Day of Happiness.
Our friends at the Joy Team are at it again, celebrating with 252 positively uplifting billboards across America. Have you seen one in your area yet?
Remember last year when we partnered to create this one?
Remember last year when we partnered to create this one?
That made me so happy.
So today, I'm thinking about happiness,
and what that looks like, sounds like, and feels like in my Corner.
Happiness is being a mom, a wife, a school counselor.
Happiness is spending time together with family.
Happiness is a check-in text or email from a friend.
Happiness is a smile given, received and returned.
Happiness is doing, receiving, or watching a kind act.
Happiness is having good friends to share my story.
Happiness is solving (and surviving!) a conflict.
Happiness is getting lost in a good movie or book.
Happiness is a finishing a big task, like calculating taxes.
Happiness is baking up some goodness to share.
Happiness is being thankful and showing gratitude.
Happiness is soaking up some Vitamin D outdoors.
Happiness is helping or mentoring someone.
Happiness is gardening, knitting, writing.
Happiness is being understood.
Happiness is passion.
Happiness is peace.
Happiness is grace.
Happiness is forgiving and being forgiven.
Happiness is feeling positively joyful.
And praying for that for our loved ones.
Clearly my cup runneth over.
ps. Today would have also been Mr. Rogers' 88th birthday.
We are all connected!
Here's to making it a cheerfully happy day.
ps. Today would have also been Mr. Rogers' 88th birthday.
We are all connected!
Here's to making it a cheerfully happy day.
Friday, January 15, 2016
PPBF: Bowls Of Happiness
Today I'm delighted to add a cultural gem to our ever-growing PPBF list.
Title: Bowls of Happiness: Treasures from China and the Forbidden City
Author: Brian Tse
Illustrator: Alice Mak
Translation: Ben Wang
Publisher: China Institute in America
Publisher: China Institute in America
Date: November 17, 2015
Suitable for ages: 4-8
Genre: Cultural Studies
Themes: Chinese culture, happiness, prosperity
Brief synopsis from Simon & Schuster: Piggy's mom loves her so much that she has decided to make a special porcelain bowl just for her. As mom makes the bowl, Piggy enters the world being painted on its outside. There she meets and learns about the animals used on these Chinese artworks and the messages of happiness and good-fortune that they convey.
Opening page:
Mommy says, "At the sight of Piggy, my heart leaps with joy!" That's because my nickname is Piggy.
Mommy remembers when she picked me up, right after I was born, with my pink body, my wide cheeks, and my large nostrils. "Oink, oink, oink!" I cried and cried, just like a piggy. So Dad said, "Might as well call her Piggy!"
Resources:
*Let Piggy's story spark a discussion about nicknames.
Do you have a nickname?
What is it?
How did you get it?
Who gets to call you by that name?
Is there anyone who does not get to call you that?
What do you think of Piggy's nickname?
If you could pick your own nickname, what would it be?
Why I like this book: As a character educator, I am always looking for enrichment resources that support cultural traditions and awareness, especially when it's time for a special celebration like Chinese New Year. Though the publisher recommends it for children ages 4-8, I actually read it with a fourth-grade boy and I think he may have even connected with it more than I did.
This book holds so many possible directions to springboard. In the second part of the book after Piggy's creative fantasy through the pictures on Mom's bowl, the reader gets a peek into the cultural beliefs about happiness in the Chinese world. Then, some challenging imagery and insight about the symbolism behind the bowls among the Chinese Emperors, more historic engagement, and a challenge: Make your own bowl.
And while it'd be really cool to have students color the template in the book or make a papier-mâché bowl, imagine the extension possibilities
if your child(ren) could paint images on a porcelain bowl
or, better yet, sculpt and fire a clay bowl.
If you're looking for a service component to enrich the reading of this book, plan a soup supper and decide whom you want to feed. My friend Tina in Missouri does this very thing in her Art classes with a project called Bowls For Hunger. Ask your students how they might mimic that project or use that service-learning idea for something they could do as a class, like host an International Epicurean day. Whom would they invite and what would they serve?
Finally, open up a discussion about the differences between happiness and joy.
For a list of today's PPBF picks, visit Susana's blog next.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Happiness & Harmony
Today I'm grateful because I got the sweetest tweet this afternoon, from a counselor in Indiana. Look at her super silhouette:
And as delighted as I am at her thoughtfulness,
I'm really energized that she is getting ready for next year already.
Isn't that inspirational?
We're not even at the end of this school year yet,
and many of us are exhausted,
tuckered out,
spent.
But not Ms. Kozuch.
Or maybe she is.
{She has to be, right?}
But instead of staying in PJs all day and watching the Hallmark Channel (like I did),
she's planning, embracing, doing. For next year.
Forward thinking.
I admire that in a role model.
It inspires me.
It makes me happy.
True confessions:
Things have not felt very harmonious in my heart lately;
in fact, it has been chaotic, messy, painful.
But with every tweet, text, email, and call of support,
I feel like I'm turning a corner
and finding myself again.
What I'm learning in the process of change is how much I value
the loving kindness and care of friends and family near and far,
not only when things are working in concert with ease,
but also in times of discord and dissonance.
That's when thought, word & deed harmonize for me.
It's a formula for happiness.
And a chance to feel hopeful again.
Cape up ... a new school year is just around the corner!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Developing Resilience
It happened again yesterday, that heart-stopping startle response.
From the passenger seat of our van.
The feeling that I'm not safe.
It's commonplace for me, that startle response, since the head-on collision
two years ago, that could have very easily taken my life.
But yesterday it was worse than usual.
I felt it to my very core.
It was physical as well as emotional this time.
And it didn't feel good. At all.
 |
| Click for definition source at Merriam-Webster |
I don't have a single answer to any of that in the midst of those
startle-response anxiety attacks of my own.
And earlier this week, when a second grader came to me for help, I'm not sure that I had any answers for her, either.
But I invited her in, to offer her a safe place
to emote,
to process,
to start to heal.
But I invited her in, to offer her a safe place
to emote,
to process,
to start to heal.
She was feeling sad because her little world has been rocked.
More like an earthquake.
A heart-on collision, of sorts.
A heart-on collision, of sorts.
Her family, she told me, is getting a divorce.
And that feels .... ?
{Really? Is that all I've got?}
{Really? Is that all I've got?}
But that's where we start, with feelings identification.
Sad.
Anything else?
Crickets.
So I share that my family got divorced and what happened next was adorable, because she asked me how I felt about that.
Relieved.
Then I spent what felt like an hour explaining to a 7 year old what relieved means and why I felt relieved about my family's divorce.
More crickets.
I'm learning that quiet is okay.
Because that's when the reflection usually happens.
And that's when the learning occurs.
That's when she asked if she could write a question on my chalkboard.
And that's when she wrote this.
And that's when she wrote this.
We took turns adding to this list of some stuff that might help:
Hugs, Pets, Prayers, Humor, Music, Time,
Making Mistakes, Journaling, Crying, Talking, Exercising.
Then I consulted the experts, for more ideas on developing resilience.
Here's what I found:
Maybe we ought to add singing to our list.
Belt it out with me: The sun'll come out ... tomorrow ...
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