Remembering with RAK

Do you remember where you were when you heard about the tragedy at Sandy Hook?  I do.  I was eating lunch in our teacher's lounge.  One of the teachers was checking Facebook on her phone and said that there was a shooting at a school in Connecticut.  She didn't know anything other than that.  It was towards the end of lunch so we just went about our day.  When I got home, a few family members called me to ask if I heard what happened.  I watched the news in shock.  I could not believe something like this could happen to these poor innocent children and those who were taking care of them.

The next day at school I tried to focus, but all I kept thinking is…..what would I do if I was in the situation that the teachers at Sandy Hook were in.  I ran scenarios through my head of how I could protect these innocent little ones in my classroom.  I even talked to my husband about it because he is a police officer.  All day it took everything I could not to cry when I looked at my sweet little students.  I would have done whatever I could to protect them!

After school that day, I had a parent come up to me.  She asked if we talked about the tragedy at school that day.  I told her no because #1 I didn't think I could without crying and #2 I truly didn't think that 5 year olds would understand and #3 I didn't want to scare my students.  This same parent said to me, "I just want to thank you for all you do.  I know that you would do what you could to protect your students and keep them safe."  And then I lost it.  I started crying.  I had kept my emotions in all day and I wanted to respond to her with a thank you, but just cried instead.

The town of Newton, CT has asked for people to commit random acts of kindness on December 14th to honor those students, teachers, and principal who lost their lives.  Since December 14th is a Saturday I decided to do random acts of kindness with my class all throughout the week.  We will do one act each day.  Here is what I have planned:

Monday - Write Thank You notes to our janitors.
Tuesday - Give candy canes to the other kindergarten class.
Wednesday - Give lots of compliments to other students, teachers, and staff members.
Thursday - Write Thank You notes to our cafeteria workers.
Friday - Give special treats to the office staff (principal, secretary, and nurse)

I hope you consider participating in this special event.  I will never ever forget that day or those who lost their lives.

"As educators, we remember and honor our fallen colleagues and their students from Sandy Hook School.  We honor them each day in our classrooms in which we continue their dream of teaching our children.  We honor their memory with our service.  Join with teachers everywhere in committing random acts of kindness to show our love for Sandy Hook."