Greatest Love of All

Ever since Whitney Houston's passing I have been enjoying her hits. One song in particular keeps finding it's way on my playlist. "Greatest Love of All". These lyrics feel like they have been yanked from my very heart. This is my mantra, my prayer, my heart:


" I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be "

These lyrics are beautiful and hold so much truth. I pray I never forget them.


TODAY:
As today is Leap Day and only occurs every 4 years, I decided to make a journal entry about today. I explained to the students that we add a day to the calendar every 4 years because it wouldn't make sense to have a 1/4 of a day/year to account for the time. I had the students research interesting facts about Leap Day as well as think about and explain what they would do if there was a 1/4 of a day on the calendar. With this question, I also reminded them that 1/4 of a day would be 6 hours spanning from 12am --> 6am. They really liked thinking about this, and a lot of students were able to come up with quite interesting responses which I loved reading!

Another aspect of today that touched my heart was when a struggling student quietly motioned me to his desk. [I had been working with him as he is below reading level]. I asked him how it was going with his reading packet and tears began streaming from his eyes. My heart sank. This boy is so embarrassed and stuck because of his low reading level. How can I help him? I was able to help him think through his worksheet and make sense of the words that simply look like this: [-i94lkajsdflsd] to him. Seeing a 5th grade child unable to read simple words really irks me. I'm not upset with him, but at the system. Why wasn't this addressed earlier? Why are we letting our students reach highschool level without the ability to READ? It upsets me to think that teachers just passed him onto the next teacher to deal with. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! This poor boy. He reminds me of me in some ways. I remember struggling with reading and being too afraid to voice that I didn't comprehend anything I read. My goal is to instill confidence in this bright boy with GREAT potential.

LOVE EVERYONE!