Gifts to the Community
Today the following message came to me in an email
from an Opal 1 parent regarding the recent work we have been doing around
children's gifts to the community. It's always such a gift to hear the
meaning children are making of this work in their lives outside of school. Thank you Opal 1 Families, your reflections are an important influence on our work:
"We were reading The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss at bedtime; upon
completion of the story we were discussing the social problems the Sneetches
were having. Ella says "My gift is problem-solving, so I know what I would do! I would go
talk to those Sneetches," and she points to a pack of star-bellied
Sneetches, "Then, I would go get Lilly, because her gift is 'Inviting.'
And, she could invite those Sneetches," (she points to the group of
plain-bellied Sneetches) to come play with us!" She sits back and
smiles wide.
I am thinking how nice it is that she has been taking
ownership of the gift she was encouraged to recognize in herself- the gift of
problem solving- and she's now expanding on that gift by including her Opal
community, considering their gifts, and finding one that will help with this
problem. This type of thinking is what I most wanted in my daughter's
educational experience, and it is so strongly encouraged and nurtured in Opal
1. Thank you to the Opal Community!"
, we then asked them what they considered to be a gift that they are enjoying sharing or would like to share that helps our community. We read many books to support this work such as, Honey I Love, I Like the Way You Are, Anansi the Spider; Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon and many others.
