Musical Motivation

Principal ponderings...

Several years ago, my husband and I stayed at The Verb Hotel in Boston.  It's a fun little hotel next to Fenway Park; it has a music theme to it.  In the lobby, there's a giant bin full of old records.  You can select some records and bring them to their room because every room has a record player in it.  How cool is that?!  In the stairwell, this saying was painted on the wall: "Listen to more music and to less advice."  I always think it's amazing how powerful music is; it can bring out all sorts of emotions.  Of course, I might be a little biased about music since I married a musician. 

You don't have to take my word for it, you can read about "How Music Affects the Brain" here.

So on this snowy Monday morning, I thought I would drop in some music to motivate you.  I went to a workshop recently where we were asked to think about what our "walk up" songs would be.  You know how you go to a baseball game and each time the player walks up to the plate, their specific song plays?  Well, what if you had a song that played as you walked into your classroom or as you were about to start a lesson?  What song would represent you or get you pumped up to do amazing things?

My problem is I like all sorts of songs.  So here are just a few to get you dancing in your seat or maybe motivate you to go outside and shovel!

Ok, I could list all kinds of songs, but I think this is enough for now.  Whether you listen to my choices or go and build your own playlist, hopefully you will let music motivate you today.  

What will your "walk up" song be this week?

Currently reading:
I was in the mood for graphic novels this weekend.  The first one I read was Sisters by Raina Telgemeier.  Having grown up with a sister several years younger than me who may have often been slightly annoying...this was a book I could relate to! 

The second graphic novel that I finished this weekend was The Cardboard Kingdom.  It's a collection of stories about different kids in the neighborhood who use their imaginations to create different characters, such as The Sorceress and The Gargoyle.  It certainly keeps them all entertained during summer vacation. 

I was very excited to get this book in the mail recently.  Perfect timing that a book called A Passion for Kindness: Making the World a Better Place to Lead, Love, and Learn was just published.  It's written by an elementary teacher from Virginia.  Can't wait to dive into this one!

Events this week:
Monday - How much snow will we get? Liz @ MCAS prep at Central Office from 10-12
Tuesday - CST Meeting @ 8:30,
Wednesday - Staff Meeting @ 8:00am in the library
Thursday - Half day, 12:15 dismissal, CST Meeting @ 8:30, Holden Elem PD at Dawson 1:30-3:30
Friday - Book Fair setting up in the morning, Book Fair Preview available from 12:00-4:00

Great things I noticed last week:

• I can't believe how many shoes we have already collected!  Our display case is over flowing with bags of shoes.  We will be collecting shoes for another week.  We had one family bring in over 120 pairs of shoes that they collected from friends.  We had another family go to Sneakerama and get boxes of used shoes to donate.  And we also had students talk to Kidoodles and got them to collect shoes for us.
  
  
• We have one more week of recording acts of kindness.  Wonder how many kindness journals we have filled already?  Each day I have students coming up to me and telling me about kindness acts.  These girls decided to make a poster to add to the cafeteria. 
  
• On Thursday, I enjoyed meeting with a team from Mayo and several other schools in Wachusett to work on a plan for providing systemic student support, our S3Academy.  We will be sharing about some of our work and ideas at our upcoming staff meeting. 
  
• It was great to see so many community members in our school on Friday, reading kindness books to classes. 

Check it out: