The Sunrise Story

I've been thinking a lot about the world today and how different it is from the world when I grew up. This leads me to consider my upbringing and my parents. My parents always taught me and my sister to be kind...to everyone. They taught us this lesson with their actions more than anything. We watched them. We noticed. We followed. I'm grateful to my mom and my dad for teaching us this valuable lesson. This world needs kindness more than ever. Today would have been my dad's seventy-first birthday. He died almost eleven years ago. It's important to me to remember my dad and to honor him on his birthday.   Last year, I assigned special "Dad Homework". It was ice cream for all. That was certainly a hit! You can read about it here . This year, I want to go bigger. My original idea was to complete 71 acts of kindness. Immediately, I panicked! How could I do that and keep track of it? That's when it hit me...I don't have to do it alone.  ...

This week has been filled with ups and downs, but there is so much to celebrate! Monday would have been my Dad's 70th birthday. He passed away almost ten years ago. This year, I talked to my students about my dad and I told them about his birthday. We talked about remembering those we love and I decided to invite them to do some extra homework. The typical middle school moans and groans could be heard when I announced that, but they were immediately silenced when I told them their assignment...eat ice cream.  Ice cream was Dad's favorite treat, Dairy Queen, to be exact...so I told them how every year on his birthday and important "Dad Days", I go to DQ and order my favorite blizzard. The classroom exploded with excitement! Many students grabbed their agendas to record their homework and even more demanded I sign their agendas. "My parents won't believe me!" Here are a couple of agenda entries from my sixth, seventh, and eighth graders... Wha...