Category Archives: kids

odoriagaru.

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the kinder were literally jumping for joy

when watching the wind spin the pinwheels on the grass!

jumping for joy – leaping-for-joy (japanese)

 躍り上がる (odoriagaru: to spring up, leap to one’s feet) to leap + up.

 

cake4kids.

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Meet Cake4Kids: The Nonprofit That Bakes Birthday Cakes for Foster and At-Risk Children

 Inspired by an article profiling a young girl in the foster care system who burst into tears upon receiving her first birthday cake, Cake4Kids founder Libby Gruender recognized that such a simple gesture could have a profound impact on the lives of underprivileged children. IIn 2010, Cake4Kids launched as a grassroots effort in Sunnyvale, California, with a handful of volunteers baking 13 cakes for a few agencies that support youth. Today, the organization encompasses hundreds of volunteers, serves over 400 social services agencies, and provides over 3,000 custom, homemade cakes or sweets for at-risk kids (ages 1-24) on an annual basis — with more than 40,000 treats delivered in the past 13 years

While a birthday cake may seem like a simple gesture to many, each baked good serves as a sweet reminder to the children and youth in the U.S. foster care system that they are seen, cherished, and not forgotten.

Per the organization’s website, children served by this mission include “youth in foster care, group homes, homeless shelters, transitional and low income housing, domestic violence or human trafficking shelters, substance abuse programs, and refugees.” Agencies partnering with Cake4Kids must serve at-risk or underserved youth, be categorized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization or government agency, and have offices in an area served by Cake4Kids.

Three years after Cake4Kids began, Gruender sadly passed away, but her mission continues to live on: The organization has since expanded across the country, with chapters all across the United States.

For more information, visit the Cake4Kids website to learn how you can volunteer, start a chapter in your area, and donate.

“how far that little candle throws his beams! so shines a good deed in a weary world.”

-william shakespeare, the merchant of venice

 

 

-source credit: julia diddy

a wish for my students on their last day.

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“there is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything.

negative people find their walls.

so never apologize for your enthusiasm.

never.ever.ever.

-ryan adams

 

may you all live like this forever. and ever. and ever.

love, your teacher

(who lives like this too)

crumb.

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i will never forget

it was a friday

 show and tell time

sitting on the floor

they took turns going around our circle

each child sharing their special thing

other children kindly looking at it

showing appreciation for what the others shared

then we came to n

who clearly had forgotten to bring something

yet said “i have something too”

he proudly walked around the circle

both hands together

gently cradling a single crumb

that he had picked up off our floor

showing each child

talking about his crumb

as the others

were all so kind

smiling at his crumb

complimenting him on his crumb

accepting the crumb as his special thing

without judging his crumb

my favorite show and tell special thing of all time.

“the wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.”

-eric hoffer

the kinder came.

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the kinder came

they masked

they played

they conquered. 

 

“this is the short and long of it.”

– william shakespeare

 

 

first day of school – september 2020

germ.

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spent time in my classroom

doing some pre-planning with my team

and saw how thorough

our summer cleaning crew had been.

i especially loved the note they left on the chairs:

they did not merely say

‘chairs cleaned’

but instead they kicked it up a notch to an ’11’

 the ‘disinfected’ level

for the kinders’ chairs.

i can certainly appreciate that.

“growth itself contains the germ of happiness.”

-pearl s. buck

the world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.  – e.e. cummings

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children and the young at heart

are encouraged to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty

in honor of International Mud Day.

international-mud-day

g2gooutside.org



a man is getting old when he walks around a puddle instead of through it.  ~R.C. Ferguson

image credits: letthechildrenplay.com, firefliesandmudpuppies,g2goutside.org