Quote of the day...

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."
--Charles Dickens

Quote of the day...

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."

W.T. Ellis

Quote of the day...

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas."
--Peg Bracken

Quote of the day...

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas lights."
--Maya Angelou

Quote of the day...

"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live."
--Dorothy Thompson, historian

Quote of the day...

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot further brotherhood of may by inciting class hatreds. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."
--Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the day...

"In the book of life we are the chapters in one another's stories."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

Advice from a tree:
--Stand tall and proud
--Go out on a limb
--Remember your roots
--Drink plenty of water
--Be content with your natural beauty
--Enjoy the view

Quote of the day...

"A bad attitude is like a flat tire -- you can't go anywhere until you change it."
--posted at Curves

Quote of the day...

"There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward."
--Kahil Gibran

Quote of the day...

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Quote of the day...

"Patience... the art of allowing life to carry you."
--Chinese proverb

Quote of the day...

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
--Nelson Mandela

Quote of the day...

Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height.
Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches.
Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth.
Both are needed, and the higher a tree goes, the deeper it goes, simultaneously.
The bigger the tree, the bigger will be its roots.
In fact, it is always in proportion.
That's its balance.

--Osho, Indian spiritual teacher

Quote of the day...

"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope."
--Barbara Kingslover, author

Quote of the day...

"Life is like a camera...
Focus on what's important,
Capture the good times,
Develop from the negatives,
And when things don't work out,
Take another shot."

--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier."
--Albert Schweitzer

Quotes of the days...

Tuesday's Quote:
"Gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have than what you don't."
--Author Unknown

Wednesday's Quote:
"At times our own light goes out and is rekindles by a spark from another person. Each of us cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."
--Albert Schweitzer

Quotes of the days...

Friday's Quote:
"It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings."
--Ann Landers

Today's Quote:
"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
--Melody Beattie

Quote of the day...

"I think a hear is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. They are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them."

-Christopher Reeves

Quote of the day...

"Progress always involves risk... You can't steal second without taking your foot off first."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of his freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

--Viktor E. Frankl, Austrian neurologist/psychologist and Holocaust survivor

Quotes of the days...

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."
--Socrates

"Remember, there are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices, and everything is possible."
--Cherie-Carter Scotts

Quote of the day...

"The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."
--William Morris

Quote of the day...

"With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose."
--Dr. Wayne Dyer

Quote of the day...

"When you teach your son, you teach your son's son."
--The Talmud

Quote of the day...

"It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you."
--former Vice President Dick Cheney

Quotes of the days...

Today:
"Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency."
--Maya Angelou

Yesterday:
"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck."
--Dalai Lama

Quote of the day...

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success."

--Thomas J. Watson, former CEO of IBM

Quote of the day...

"Look to this day,
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today, well-lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day."

--Sanskrit proverb

Quotes of the days...

Friday:
"Before you talk, listen.
Before you react, think.
Before you spend, earn.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try."
--Ernest Hemingway

Today:
"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny."
--Mahatma Gandhi

Quotes of the days...

Tuesday's Quote:
"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."
--Henry David Thoreau

Wednesday's Quote:
"Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Continue to learn.
Appreciate your friends.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is."
--Mary Anne Radmacher

Today's Quote:
"Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
--Chinese Proverb

Quote of the day...

"To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters.
We know each other as we always were.
We know each other's hearts.
We share private family jokes.
We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.
We live outside the touch of time."
--Clara Ortega

Quote of the day...

"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself."
--Galileo Galilei

Quote of the day...

"Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day."
--Author Unknown

Quote of the day...

"Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can achieve a permanently happy spirit."
--Norman Vincent Peale

Quote of the day...

An old Cherokee told his grandson, "My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth."

The boy thought about it, and asked, "Grandfather, which wolf wins?"

The old man quietly replied, "The one you feed."

--Author Unknown

Quotes of the days...

Today's Quote:
"Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."
--Harper Lee

Friday's Quote:
"Know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from."
--Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Thursday's Quote:
"Life's problems wouldn't be called hurdles if there wasn't a way to get over them."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B."
--James Yorke

Quote of the day...

"What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family."
--Mother Teresa

Quote of the day...

"Happiness keeps you sweet, trials keep you strong, sorrows keep you human, failures keep you humble, success keeps you glowing, friends and family keep you going."
--Author unknown

Quote of the Day...

"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean."
--Ryunosuke Satoro, poet

Quote of the day...

"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the marker and the destination."

--Deborah James

Quote of the day...

"The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away."
--Pablo Picasso

Quote of the day...

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."
--Albert Camus

Quotes of the days...

Friday's Quote:
"The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists."
--Japanese Proverb

Today's Quote:
"Give every day the chance to be the most beautiful day in your life."
--Mark Twain

Quotes of the days...

Yesterday:
"Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved."
--D.H. Lawrence

Today:
"Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again."
--F.P. Jones

Quote of the day...

"Remember: everyday is a gift, and the quality of your life is your gift to yourself."

--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"Always end the day with a positive thought. No matter how hard things were, tomorrow's a fresh opportunity to make it better."

--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit."
--John Steinbeck

Quote of the day...

"Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it."
--Wilferd Peterson

Quote of the day...

"Your Attitude + Your Choices = Your Life"
--Seen on Pinterest

Quote of the day...

"Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights."
--Pauline R. Kezer

Quote of the day...

Friday's quote:
"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own."
--Ben Sweetland

Quote of the day...

"Strive for progress, not perfection."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"A leader is a dealer in hope."
--Napoleon Bonaparte

Quote of the day...

"The purpose of life is not to be happy -- but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all."

--Leo Rosten

Quote of the day...

"So many of our dreams first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."

--Christopher Reeve

Quote of the day...

BElieve
THEre is
GOOD in the world.

--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"All things are difficult before they are easy."
--Thomas Fuller

Quote of the day...

"Be willing to be a beginner every single morning."
--Meister Eckhart

Quotes of the days...

I am way behind... so here are several from the last week or so :).  Happy 1st day of school to you all!

"Courage is being scared to death --- and saddling up anyway."
--John Wayne

"Confidence comes not from always being right, but from not fearing to be wrong."
--Peter McIntyre

"Without risk, faith is an impossibility."
--Soren Kierkegaard

"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do.  Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.  Try to be better than yourself."
--William Faulkner

"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results."
--Willie Nelson

"Every morning is a fresh beginning. Every day is the world made new. Today is a new day. Today is my world made new. I have lived all my life up to this moment, to come to this day. This moment -- this day -- is as good as any moment in all eternity. I shall make of this day -- each moment of this day -- a heaven on earth.  This is my day of opportunity."
--Dan Custer

Quote of the day...

"Don't dread it --- DO it!"
--Mom, in a rare moment of brilliance :)

Quote of the day...

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Quote of the day...

"Those that say you can't take it with you never saw a car packed for a vacation trip."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"If you hear a voice within you say, 'You cannot paint,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."
--Vincent van Gogh

Quote of the day...

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."
--A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)

Quote of the day...

"Trust yourself, then you will know how to live."

--Johann Wolfgang van Goethe

Quote of the day...

"It is a happy talent to know how to play."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes of the days...

Today's Quote:
"The best way to have the last word is to apologize."
--on a sign in front of a church

Yesterday's Quote:
"A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

--Nelson Mandela

Quote of the day...

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it."
--Chinese proverb

Quotes of the days...

Yesterday's quote:
"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."
--Babe Ruth

Today's quote:
"Optimism is true moral courage."
--Ernest Shackleton

Quote of the day...

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see."
--John W. Whitehead, Rutherford Institute founder

Quote of the day...

"The price of greatness is responsibility."

--Winston Churchill

Quote of the day...

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
--Leo Tolstoy

Quote of the day...

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."

--Zig Ziglar

Quotes of the days...

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
--Robert Heinlein

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
--William Jennings Bryan

"A birthday is the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip!"
--Anonymous

"Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is."
--Vince Lombardi

"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing."
--William Butler Yeats

Quote of the day...

"As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way."
--Mary Anne Radmacher

Quote of the day...

"Every artist was first an amateur."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes of the days...

Yesterday:
"Nobody ever climbs a mountain, gets to the top, and says, 'I should have just been content to stay where I was.'"
--Author Unknown

Today:
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."
--Charles Darwin

Quote of the day...

"Life has meaning only in the struggle. Triumph or defeat is in the hands of the gods. So let us celebrate the struggle."
--Swahili warrior song

Quote of the day...

"I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn't fall down."
--Allen H. Neuharth

Quotes of the days...

7/8/2013
"In the tapestry of life we are all connected. Each one of us is a gift to those around us, helping each other be who we are, weaving a perfect picture together."
--Anita Moorjani

7/5/2013
"When you're finished changing, you're finished."
--Benjamin Franklin

7/4/2013
"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the great New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains and the sea. He means that he loves... an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect."
--Adlai Stevenson, 19th century American Vice President and statesman

Quote of the day...

"A jug fills drop by drop."
--Buddha

Quote of the day...

"We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes of the days...

Today:
"Great hopes makes great men."
--Thomas Fuller, English historian and author

Friday:
"Do not judge by appearances. A rich heart may be under a poor coat."
--Scottish proverb

Quote of the day...

"In time of test, family is best."
--Burmese proverb

Quote of the day...

"One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity."
--Albert Schweitzer

Quote of the day...

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you."
--Oscar Wilde, playwright

Quotes of the days...

I was on vacation last week, so I'm just going to share in a clump for today and last week :).

"When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
--Alexander Graham Bell

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
--Steve Jobs

"Kindness in words creates confidence, kindness in thinking creates profoundness, kindness in giving creates love."
--Lao Tzu

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story."
--Orson Welles

"I approached a kid and asked, 'What is Love?'
The kid answered, 'Love is when a puppy licks your face.'
I laughed, but then he added, 'Even after you left him alone all day.'"
--Author unknown

"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world."
--Shakespeare

Quote of the day...

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life. That word is love."
--Sophocles

Quote of the day...

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good that overwhelm the world."
--Desmond Tutu

Quotes of the days...

Monday's Quote:
"Life is not a brief candle. It is a splendid torch that must be made to burn as brightly as possible before it is handed on to the next generation."
--George Bernard Shaw

Tuesday's Quote:
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
--Abraham Lincoln

Wednesday's Quote:
"Patience will achieve more than force."
--Edmund Burke

Quote of the day...

"The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

Our minds are like gardens,
Our thoughts are like seeds.
We can grow flowers,
Or we can grow weeds.

Quote of the day...

"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come."

--Chinese Proverb

Quote of the day...

"Influence often isn't noticed until it blossoms later in the garden of someone else's life. Our words and actions may land close to home, or they may be carried far and wide."

--Pam Farrel

Quote of the day...

"Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulders."

--Thoreau

Quote of the day...

"Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor."

--Jackson Browne

Quotes of the days...

Yesterday's Quote:
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain."
--Author Unknown

Today's Quote:
"I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma."
--Eartha Kitt

Quote of the day...

"A good rest is half the work."
--Proverb

Quote of the day...

"A friend is one who joyfully sings with you when you are on the mountain top and silently walks beside you through the valley."

--William A. Ward

Quote of the day...

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being."

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Quote of the day...

"A problem well stated is a problem half solved."
--John Dewey

Quote of the day...

"In my life, I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've missed, I've hurt, I've trusted, I've made mistakes, but most of all, I've learned."

--Author Unknown

Quote of the day...

"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap thsi source, you will truly have defeated age."

--Sophia Loren

Quote of the day...

"Every now and again take a good look at something not made with hands -- a mountain, a star, the turn of a stream. There will come to you wisdom and patience and solace and, above all, the assurance that you are not alone in the world."

--Sidney Lovett

Quotes of the days...

Yesterday's quote:

"Each life, no matter how brief, changes this world forever."

--Author unknown



Today's quote:

"Look to this day
for it is life -- the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all
the realities and truths of existence --
the joy of growth
the glory of action
the splendor of beauty.

For yesterday is already a memory
and tomorrow is only a vision
but today well lived makes every yesterday
a memory of happiness
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day."

--Ancient Sansknit poem

Quote of the day...

"I am glad that in the springtime of my life there were those who planted flowers of love in my heart."
--Robert Louis Stevenson

Quote of the day...

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."
--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen."

--Leonardo da Vinci

Quote of the Day...

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, "I'm possible"!
--Audrey Hepburn

Quote of the day...

Friday:
"What you can become you are already."
--Hebbel Freidrich

Monday:
"Appreciation can make a day, even change a life.  Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary."
--Margaret Cousins

Quotes of the days...

Today:
"A wise old owl sat in an oak,
The more he saw the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?"
--A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh books

Yesterday:
"Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."
--Dale Carnegie

Tuesday:
"Flatter me and I may not believe you.
Criticize me and I may not like you.
Ignore me and I may not forgive you.
Encourage me and I may not forget you."
--William Arthur

Quote of the day...

"A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves."

--Marcel Proust

Is your grade level a group or a team?

Quote of the day...

"Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other."

--Euripides

Quote of the day...

"Do small things with great love."

--Mother Teresa

Quote of the day...

"As the essence of courage is to stake one's life on a possibility, so the essence of faith is to believe that the possibility exists."

-William Salter

Quote of the day...

"Someone once asked me how I hold my head up so high after all I've been through.  I said, it's because no matter what, I am a survivor.  Not a victim."

--Patricia Buckley

Quote of the day...

"Today, you have 100% of your life left."

--Tom Landry

Quote of the day...

"Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

--Mark Twain

Quote of the day...

"Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark."

--George Iles

Quote of the day...

"Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror."

--Byrd Baggett

Quote of the day...

"Walking through puddles is my favorite metaphor for life."

--Jessi Lane Adams

Quote of the day...

"He who throws mud only loses ground."

Quote of the day...

"The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for."

--Joseph Addison

Quote of the day...

"Governments never learn.  Only people learn."

--Milton Friedman, Nobel prize-winning economist

Quote of the day...

"I hadn't been paying much attention to things like the sunrise, but that old sun had been coming up anyway.  It didn't really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me."

--Lily Casey Smith, in Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls

Quote of the day...

"Anyone who thinks he's too small to make a difference has never been bitten by a mosquito."

--Lily Casey Smith, talking about the responsibility to vote, in Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls

Quote of the day...

"Hope for the best and plan for the worst."

--Lily Casey Smith's father in Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

Quote of the day...

"(The) most important thing in life is learning how to fall."

--Lily Casey Smith's father, quoted in Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls

Drew Johnson Blog: No school on Monday April 1, 2013

Drew Johnson Blog: No school on Monday April 1, 2013: We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. This message is an attempt to clear up the printed errors in the “All School Calendar”. Th...

Quotes of the day...

Yesterday:

"Discontent is the first necessity of progress."
--Thomas Edison

Today:

"If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul."
--Rabbi Harold Kushner

Quote of the day...

"Love and kindness are never wasted.  They always make a difference."

--Helen James

Quote of the day...

"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."

--Carl Jung

Quote of the day...

"Life is like playing the violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on."

--Samuel Butler

Quote of the day...

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."

--Kahlil Gibran

Quote of the day...

"Whether the weather be fine,
Whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not."

--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"I think that everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer."

--Jim Carrey

Quote of the day...

"This above all: to thine own self be true."

--William Shakespeare

Quote of the day...

"Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on."

--Samuel Butler

Quote of the day...

"No one is in charge of your happiness but you."

--Author Unknown

Quote of the day...

"Your success and happiness lie in you.  Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invisible host against difficulties."

--Helen Keller

Quote of the day...

"Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives.  They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction.  The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow.  Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it's who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment."

--Anthony Robbins

Quote of the day...

"Children learn more from what you are than what you teach."

--W.E.B. Dubois

Neat Watch - Student Empathy

Basketball Team Manager Gets His Best Shot

Quote of the day...

"Nobody is better than you, but you're not better than anybody else."

--Jason Greene, a young father quoting his grandfather in a recent Wall Street Journal article about helping children develop appropriate self-esteem

Quote of the day from yesterday...

"It's not who you are that holds you back; it's who you think you're not."

--Author unknown

Quote of the day...

"Love never says: I have done enough!"

--Saint Marie-Eugenie de Jesus

BAK Little Hawk News...: Snow Emergency in PdC...

BAK Little Hawk News...: Snow Emergency in PdC...: (Prairie Du Chien, WI – March 4 th  2013)  – Prairie du Chien Mayor Dave Hemmer has declared a snow emergency, effective from 12:01 AM Tue...

Quote of the day...

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

--Soren Kierkegaard

Quote of the day...

"What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?"

--John Steinbeck

Quote of the day...

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face."

--Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables

Quote of the day...

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

--Pericles

Quote of the day...

"Be happy for this moment.  This moment is your life."

--Omar Khayyam

Quote of the day...

"Good family is never an accident but always an achievement by those who share it."

--James H.S. Bossard

Quote of the day...

"You are not merely here to make a living.  You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.  You are here to enrich the world."

--Woodrow Wilson

Quote of the day...

"If Plan A fails, remember there are 25 more letters."

--Claire Cook

Quote of the day...

"They must often change, who would be constant in happiness of wisdom."

--Confucius

Quote of the day...

Quote of the day...

"And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said to the Earth, 'You owe me.'
Look what happens with love like that.  It lights up the sky."

--Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Persian poet

Quick Read - The Art of Taking Criticism

The Art of Taking Criticism

Quote of the day...

"There is a comfort in the strength of love;
'Twill make a thing endurable,
which else would overset the brain,
or break the heart."

--William Wordsworth

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, ALL!

Quote of the day...

"Never forget that the most powerful force on earth is love."

--Nelson Rockefeller

Quote of the day...

Yesterday:
"If we are ever in doubt about what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done."
--John Lubbock

Today:
"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
--Robert Heinlein

Do we allow our students to play Journey?

Take a few minutes to watch this - it's a great piece.  He makes some really great points about where education was, and where it is now as a result of the resources that are at our fingertips - as well as the fingertips of our students.



In Principal J's blog post, Why School?, she discusses the book that Will wrote as well.

His last quote has stuck with me and caused a great deal of reflection: "In times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

Quote of the day...

"To laugh is to risk being a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To express feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
The person who risks nothing,
Does nothing,
Has nothing and is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But they simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live.
Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
Only a person who risks is free."

--Leo Buscaglia

Quote of the day...

"Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is."

--Maxim Gorky

Quote of the day...

"Be remembered for never forgetting to care."

--from a greeting card

Drew Johnson Blog: It looks like we will be moving to Infinite Campus...

Drew Johnson Blog: It looks like we will be moving to Infinite Campus...: Excerpt from wispolitics.com: Today, the Department of Administration (DOA) issued a Notice of Intent to Award letter for the Statewide S...

Quote of the day...

"Difficulties mastered are opportunities won."

--Winston Churchill

Quote of the day...

"You can kiss your family and friends goodbye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you."

--Frederick Buechner

Excellent Watch - Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Quote of the day...

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.  Let us move forward with strong and active faith."

--Franklin Delano Roosevelt

A Pep Talk...

Interesting Link...

Common Core Test Practice

Quote of the day...

"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."

--Author Unknown

Quote of the day...

"The stories of past courage can offer hope and provide inspiration.  But they cannot supply courage itself.  For this, each man must look into his own soul."

--John F. Kennedy

My son is 8. He's a maker.

My son is 8. He’s a maker.

 

from Dangerously Irrelevant by dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com (Scott McLeod)

My son is 8. He’s a maker. He makes things out of paper. He makes things out of cardboard. He makes things out of Legos and blocks and TinkerToys and egg cartons and the styrofoam that comes inside packages. We’ve spent a fortune on masking tape and scotch tape and string and markers and glue, just so he can attach things together and decorate them to make even more complex things.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Outside he makes things out of sticks and rocks and bark and leaves (at least those are still free). When it snows he makes sculptures and forts. He chalks up our driveway. And our porch. And the bricks and siding of our house.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He draws. And draws. And draws. He writes and writes. He pens stories. He authors books. He creates scavenger hunts and costumes. He creates populations and universes, filling countless notebooks and pads and poster boards and sticky notes and index cards.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He plays Spore, but mostly to design his own creatures and spacecraft. He likes Scratch. He likes Scribblenauts. He loves any video game or app that lets him make his own levels or characters or worlds (instead of playing what the designers gave him).
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He makes movies using our handheld camcorder. He takes funny photos with our digital cameras or smartphones. He uses the webcam and PhotoBooth to create story episodes. He makes up new songs using the piano or music software. He makes up rhymes and dance moves.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He takes the figures and cards and tokens from multiple board games and combines them to make his own games. He repurposes card games and dice games into entirely new variations. He creates new word games and mind games and teaches us how to play on car rides or at the kitchen table.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Give him five unconnected objects and five minutes and he’ll make something amazing. He pulls the neighborhood kids into what he makes, creating communities of joyous co-creators. He pulls his classmates and his teachers and his family into what he makes, his smile and enthusiasm infecting all of us.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Will his classes enable him or quash him? Will his teachers inspire him or suppress him? Will his schools nurture his brilliant divergence or force him into a convergent, one-size-fits-all model?
My son is 8. He’s a maker. His world-changing skills and talents never will be reflected in an educational world of worksheets, end-of-chapter review questions, course exams, and bubble tests. How will you accommodate and recognize his gifts?
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Are you ready?

Quote of the day...

"The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball."

--Doug Larson

Quote of the day...

"Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity."

--Unknown

Great Link...

Common Core Checklists

Bethany shared this great link with me today!  This could prove to be a very helpful resource for us as we look to measure student learning in regard to CCSS.

Quote of the day...

"I haven't failed.  I've found 10,000 ways that don't work."

--Thomas Edison

BAK Little Hawk News...: Open Enrollment Window...

BAK Little Hawk News...: Open Enrollment Window...: The open enrollment window is quickly approaching.  Please see the link below with important information regarding the open enrollment proc...

Quote of the day...

"Perhaps strength doesn't  reside in having never been broken... but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken places."

--from a card

Quote of the day...

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation."

--Brian Tracy

I find this a little bit scary...

Please include attribution to CollegeStats.org with this graphic.

BAK Little Hawk News...: Another great watch on mindset...

BAK Little Hawk News...: Another great watch on mindset...: I love Carol Dweck's work, and find it fascinating.  This is something I try to think of always in my interactions with students.

More Writing...

Principal J Blogspot

This blogspot does a nice job of outlining the increased expectations of writing with the CCSS.

Quote of the day...

"You can't have a good day with a bad attitude, and you can't have a bad day with a good attitude."

--Unknown

Quote of the day...

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

--Nelson Mandela

Quote of the day...

"If you're feeling blue -- try painting yourself a different color."

--Hannah Cheatem, age 8

Quotes of the days...

I have missed several... I apologize!  Here they are.

"Don't knock the weather.  If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation."
--Kin Hubbard

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."
--Paul Boese

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up."
--from an inspirational calendar

It is not the strongest...

The Power of Belief --- Mindset & Success

The power of words...

Interesting Read...

Article by Cathy Davidson

Quote of the day...

Yesterday:

"The journey is the reward."

--Chinese Proverb

Today:

"Take as a gift whatever the day brings forth."

--Horace 

Great Message for a Friday...

This beautiful message was shared by a dear friend this morning.  I want to share it with all of you!

Happy Friday!

~Laura~

A Life That Matters...

Live a life that matters. 

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived, at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom, and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.

It's not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Quote of the day...

"Make decisions from the heart and use your head to make (them) work out."

--Sir Girard

Similar to Differentiating Instruction?

In this video, some ducklings were able to get over the curb on their own. However, several found that it was just too high. Look at how someone provides assistance to those having trouble, and how he doesn’t tell them what to do. Instead, he offers it as an option, as a choice they can make. It’s an example of an old community organizing axiom, “If you don’t give people the opportunity to say no, you don’t give them the opportunity to say yes, either.”

Quote of the day...

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning."

--J.B. Priestley

The value of a sincere compliment...

Quote of the day...

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery."

--Mark van Doren

2013...

Bonnie Mohr Blog Post

This is a blog post by my favorite artist... and it made me reflect on how thankful I am as we begin 2013.  I am thankful to be back in the routine of work and school, and to have had so many blessings throughout 2012!  I ran across a quote by Calvin and Hobbes over the break that really resonated with me... "We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."  This is one of my New Year's resolutions --- to take time to enjoy where I am from time to time.  Looking ahead to the future is always important, and it's what keeps us innovative... but enjoying where we are is what allows us the satisfaction of a job well done, and to appreciate all of those that we have the pleasure of working with each and every day.

Happy 2013!  I hope it's been off to a great start for you as well.

Honk If You Love Someone...

You make an impact each and every day... our students are so lucky, and we are so lucky to have one another.  

THANK YOU!

Quote of the Day...

"Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can do."

--Lyn Yutang

Quote of the Day

Today:
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins --- not through strength, but through persistence."
--Buddha

Yesterday:
"In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy."
--Albert Clarke