the little ones.

Today I felt really proud of our school community.

Every month we have something we call an All School Meeting. It is when everyone in the entire school comes together and, led by our Music teacher, lifts their voices in song.

So imagine a room filled with Kindergartners - all the way up to 5th grade (who seem just enormous to me now). A sea of different colors, different backgrounds, different personalities and learning styles. All sitting together - not able to see where one grade ends and the other begins. All a mesh of love and purity, all wanting to belong, and all knowing, somehow, that they belong here.

They sang. Loud and proud they sang. With their teachers and family members standing around them like a wall of love protecting them from the outside world. They ended the Meeting with, "Don't Worry, Be Happy". 300 little voices sang the simple, repetitive words over and over again. Words that I wish we could all, as grown-ups, internalize. Tears just easily rolled down my cheeks watching them. Tiny arms linked around the tiny necks of the person on either side. Swaying and singing.

And our STEP team also performed today for the first time ever. A group of 4th and 5th graders who have been working diligently during their recess time to learn how to sync together in unison. I was so nervous for them. Wanted to them to be proud of everything they had done, of how hard they had worked. And they rocked it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P19NQLR2wo&

And then there is the little group of 4th graders I have been working with. Who have created the group - LSA (Learning through Service and Action), a service learning group who, after talking about what it actually means to be of service in a community and what qualities are necessary when setting out to help, have decided to pursue two avenues of service - health awareness and assistance to the local homeless shelters.

Our health awareness group has created a blog. They are incredible - check them out and be a fan: www.crcslsa.blogspot.com. It is completely student written, student run, and student organized.

The group concerned with the rising number of homeless children in the neighborhood contacted our local shelters and has taken it upon themselves to have a drive to collect items the shelter needs. They went around to every classroom and talked about what they needed and why. So inspiring were this group of 4th graders, that a 2nd grader who heard their presentation, told her mother on their walk home from school that she wanted to, "go buy some baby food and bring it to school to give to the shelters".

At a time when things around us seem to be falling apart, these kids give me the strength and courage I need to know that we are alright. Just fine actually. We are in good hands.