We all know that finding reasons to celebrate becomes even more necessary when there are lots of reasons to despair. Words have associations for me. Despair is a drain in a rainstorm. Celebration is light but full of energy. Leaps. Twirls and whirls.
Moment by moment. Tiny and full. We can choose to walk through our weeks gathering the energy to remain in the place to celebrate.
There is some sadness in my room. Some weighty things that are hard. But I collected the light and there is much that is joyful. It all adds up to many reasons to smile.
Sharing some of them here 🙂
We had a week of hiphop dancing with the brilliant Kimberly Stevenson from The Happening Dance Studio here in Vancouver. One morning I arrived at school to see an impromptu early morning rehearsal going on. Students all helping each other with their steps.
How I love the artists in my room. We have started hanging up our whale art inspired by the book Wild Ideas: Let Nature Inspire Your Thinking written by Elin Kelsey and illustrated by Soyeon Kim. Placed next to each other, we have a beautiful under the sea collage happening.
Buddy reading is always a highlight of our week. I caught this little guy mid bellow – the best kind of carried away laughing there is!
Here are my dancers! Showing me their silly just before our big performance. Dance teacher Kim is right in there with us. How we adore her!
Some little notes of gratitude for Kim 🙂
Flowers for Mamas.
Community. Posing with black and white hearts and a little bit of playground play on Friday afternoon. These pictures are for a thank you to Kim, our hip hop teacher which will be on our class blog.
Thank you to Ruth Ayres and the #celebratelu community! Being part of a community that regularly shares gratitude and celebrations truly transforms my weeks.
There's a Book for That 
Your “light” is beautiful and happy this week – even if there is sadness in the wings. You captured happy and smiles that say, “We got this one!”
Thank you Anita! I like that expression: “We got this one!” It will be our mantra for next week 🙂
The arts – dance and painting – usually, even with challenges during the process, bring light and joy when eventually shared. Capturing a child smiling on a photo is a sure positivity boost. I hope that the celebrations give strength to get through the tough times.
Our week of dance was absolutely a positivity boost! Lots of happiness in movement and music.
I love that you have such strong visual associations with words. I’m going to be thinking about that. The kid’s expressions in photos are such a great reminder that children do find lightness and joy, even when there is sadness around. The whale art is beautiful!
They absolutely do! And smiles have a lovely contagious happiness factor 🙂
Reading your post put a smile on my face. What a creative bunch you and your students are.
They are beautifully creative children!
Just love the pictures and those smiling faces – pure joy!
They are pretty delightful! Agreed 🙂
What a great way to get moving- through dance! Elin was nice. Owlkids Books, in general, are awesome.. They are based in Canada.
Love Owl Books 🙂
So many smiles here. Even with sadness around there can still be bright spots of joy breaking through. So glad you found them. 🙂
I did. They are always there. Sometimes, it’s about stopping, taking a breath and looking around.
I’m sure these children celebrate having you for their teacher Carrie. I’m always inspired by your passionate commitment to them, no matter what their lives throw at you and them.
Thank you Cheriee.
Always so much joy in your classroom!
We do try to make it a very happy place!