This week we went to the Rays game with our entire school (Thanks to Mr. Finston)! A man who used to be Mrs. Laurenzi’s neighbor. He has never met us before, but he supports what our school is about and the way we learn, so he gave us all tickets to the game!
While we were at the game, we had the opportunity to perform random acts of kindness. (Just like Mr. Finston showed to us.)
One example was when Alex bought a little kid in front of us ice cream! He overheard the father of the child realize they don’t take credit cards so they would have to wait. The vendor left, but Alex called out to him and asked how much the ice cream was. He then asked the little boy for his favorite flavor and bought it for him.
None of us were expecting it, but I think it’s the random act of kindness of the day!
This week we were also introduced to Indi-(t)ED talks. Indi-(t)ED talks are going to be our end of the year showcase. It’s our own version of a professional TED talk!
We decided to take it back to the first showcase where we presented our own interests to everyone. This time, we will be tying some of our individual interests to life lessons that we have learned this year. We’re all looking very forward to it!
(Our cohort collaborating to help with the brainstorming process for Indi-(t)ED talks.)
So what do TED talks and Rays games have in common? Real life experiences and real life lessons!
In conclusion, this week was very fun for us and with the end of the year coming close, we hope to have many more weeks like this!
______________
Being kind now comes naturally to our students as we focused on teaching how to display it and why it’s important.
Almost without realizing, they perform acts of kindness all of the time. They are kind to each other, to their teachers and families, and to complete strangers. They help each other learn, they share their snacks, they write kind notes to each other and their teachers. The list goes on and on.
These small acts are oftentimes the most meaningful, and our students are aware of that. They understand the power of being kind to others and we know it through their actions but also through their words. They can articulate it for themselves (see above or listen in on any of their group conversations).
They like to say that kindness comes back to you like a boomerang.
This is just one of the many life lessons that our students have learned (and LIVED) this year.
We don’t want to give too much away about the Indi-(t)ED Talks just yet, but their theme for this year is: life lessons.
Be on the lookout for more information and bios with descriptions of the upcoming presentations! (One student’s intentions behind her talk are below.) We can almost certainly guarantee that they will not disappoint.
