Inspired to Complete 26 Acts

I was inspired last night.

I was on Twitter and came across a tweet from DonorsChoose. It had the tag #26acts. I clicked it, out of curiosity, to see what it was all about. Initially I was thinking it was a way I could possibly get my current project funded. Then I realized it was even bigger than my own needs/wants. It consumed the rest of my night.

I read a news story on NBC by Ann Curry about the 26 Acts of Kindness campaign. Then I saw the BuzzFeed post with pictures from 26 Acts. I joined the Facebook page and read what others are doing. I started reading the #26acts tweets on Twitter. I decided that I had to join in.

26 acts of kindness for the 26 victims in Newtown, CT. What a way to honor those lost. An absolutely brilliant way to take a stand against a tragedy.

So far I've completed 3 acts of kindness.

I donated to two teachers on DonorsChoose.org and completed their project funding for them. Two completely random teachers who are in high poverty schools. Bless them.

I recently received an email from a reader who was asking for my help in tackling her cluttered home. She sounded overwhelmed and completely lost. I hear you. I want to help. I emailed her one of my PDF sets to help her get organized and will help her turn her life around, as much as I possibly can.

I have more plans for this week. I'm going to the mall tomorrow. I plan to leave some notes with gift cards. I am going to pay for the person's meal who is after me during my Thursday McDonalds breakfast stop and Thursday Jimmy Johns lunch run. {Thursdays are my "bad" days. lol}

Two weeks ago Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts posted about random acts of kindness she's doing with her first grade students. She's so sweet and has so many free {and amazing} resources for teachers - including her We Are Kind Kids RACK packet. I decided to do this with my students.

We're in a brand new school with lots of volunteers, one part-time {yet full-time} custodian, overworked secretaries, principal, and special education staff, and an absolutely amazing teaching assistant shared in our grade. We're so grateful. My grade level teaching partner and I emphasize respect and responsibility on a daily basis in our classrooms. We share our classes 50/50 now {I'm teaching language arts, science, and art to both 4th grade classes, so I get each class for half of the day}, so it's like all 53 of them are "mine". I couldn't be happier. Since we have the same values in our classroom, the acts of kindness seemed like something that the kids would enjoy and would be able to easily participate in. Boy, was I right!

We spent 30 minutes one afternoon creating cards for the staff in our school that seem to be "overlooked" during the holidays. Teachers always get lots of gifts from students, but we wanted those who make our school run smoothly to know that we appreciate them and everything they do for us. I should have taken pictures of the cards - they were amazing. Thank yous to the "lunch ladies" who are moms that volunteer their time each day to help serve students lunch. Thank yous for the custodian who works a double to help keep our school clean. Thank yous for the women on recess duty who freeze with the kids outside just so we can have a 40 minute lunch. Thank yous for the office secretaries who help call home, take care of sick and "broken" students, deliver our never ending package deliveries of classroom supplies to our classroom door, and everything else they do for us. Thank yous to parents who have donated laptops and a printer to our classroom. Thank yous to our incredible teaching assistant who has taken it upon herself to become part of our 4th grade family and fits right in perfectly with both my teaching partner, our kids, and me. We would be lost without her. {And if you're reading this, Laura, just know I mean every word.}

We are blessed at our school. I feel incredibly lucky to have been offered {and accepted} this position. I wasn't sure about it at first, but now I can't imagine anything else. It's been a really long, hard road since the beginning of the year, but the students have shown me that they are worth every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears I've put in for them. They are the reason everything else in my life has taken the back seat over the last few months.

My students and the faculty at my school are the reason I am choosing to complete these 26 acts this month. I am grateful.

Will you join me? I'd love to hear what acts of kindness you're completing! Leave comments, links to your own blog posts, links to pictures via Instagram or Twitter, anything. Please share to help inspire!