How I Made a Difference on December 10, 2007

To The Cafeteria Lunch Monitors at Lindbergh Elementary  

Dear Monitors,

Thank you for all you’ve done at Lindbergh Elementary. You may not notice but we really appreciate it! Through all of the six years I’ve been at Lindbergh Elementary I have noticed as I get older and move on that you make rules and consequences to keep the students safe. Like when you made the rule that when students throw their trash out they have to walk around the table instead of all of us jumping up and throwing the trash out all at once, you made that not only for the people who are throwing stuff out but for everyone in the cafeteria’s safety, and I hadn’t noticed that until now.

 All of the monitors are kind and generous because they take time out of their lives to do a very challenging job (just think about having about four lunch monitors and about 90 kids).  They put their time and effort into EVERYONE   and  EVERYTHING to keep students safe. I don’t think they get appreciated enough. They really care!

Our cafeteria is a wonderful place. The people who make our lunches work hard to make sure that the food we eat is really healthy. The win a lot of prizes for this in competitions in our state! We are very lucky.

Right now, JTM foods is holding a national contest. They are offering a kitchen renovation to the school cafeteria that wins its recipe contest. My school has entered its recipe for Macho Nachos! These are AWESOME! Nina and I LOVE them. They do not have yucky greasy meat on them or a lot of gross stuff like some nachos do. Macho Nachos are made with brown rice and vegetarian beans and salsa. They are YUMMY! They aren’t totally healthy of course (they ARE nachos) but my mom and dad say once in a while, it is okay to buy lunch and we love MACHO NACHOS! I know lots of kids from my school are reading this now, so I wanted to remind everyone to vote!

Please please please go here and vote for Macho Nachos to win the contest! It is recipe 6 (out of 10)…make sure you are voting for the right one! SAY THAT YOU “LOVE IT” AND MY SCHOOL COULD WIN A KITCHEN RENOVATION! Everyone in our cafeteria really works hard and they deserve to win! And also, the rest of the world deserves to know that Macho Nachos are the best! 

 Love,

Laura

 

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How I Made a Difference on December 9, 2007

Yesterday, we got our tree! Today I made a difference by helping my dad put the lights on our Christmas tree. I also helped to make my dad’s birthday dinner tonight. I chopped and sauteed mushrooms for our steak, and I also set the table for dinner. We had my Uncle Mike and Aunt Joanie over. She helped show me how to chop the mushrooms up. She is an AWESOME cook.

My dad needed help with the lights because some of the lights on our string of lights made the other lights not work. I helped him by putting them on the Christmas tree and fixing them. Now our Christmas tree is very beautiful. We got it yesterday at Forevergreens in Sardinia. We go there every single year. The people there are very nice, and I like the cats that run around in the barn. It is a big red barn on top of a hill.

Tonight, my Aunt Joanie helped me mince the mushrooms for dinner. Also, she told me what she likes in mushrooms and helped me get the garlic and parsley down. It must have paid off because everyone loved them!

When I set the table, I used our Christmas dishes. They are really pretty. They have red berries and leaves painted on them.

Hello New Zealand!

Yesterday, Ms. Vesper left a really nice comment on my blog! She is a primary school teacher in New Zealand. She told me that it is actually summer there right now. I visited her blog today too, and I was excited because Mr. Lietze, one of her readers, said he would like HIS students to do something similar to Twenty Five Days on his site next year. It would be so great if a lot of classrooms and kids were all doing things like this! I hope this happens!

How Nina Made a Difference on December 8th

Hi I am Nina.Today I had  hockey at seven  fortey nine am. It was a full ice practice. When one of the teams have a seven  fortey nine A.M  practice they have full ice. Full ice meens only your team is on the ice. After you get off the ice you go in the locer room. Today when we went in are locer room we got our jursise and our new hockey socks. I like this sport becuse I thank it is fun. My jursie is black and my hockey socks are black andwhite. My teams name is the Bulls.The ather team name’s are Bears, Falcons, Huskies, Bull dogs, Ice cats,and Braoncos.My frind is on the Bears his name is Vinnie! I also know some one on the Falons he is one of my frainds to! Today I made a difrence because I realy wanted to have the puck at hockey, but I let one other kid have it instead. Moast of the kids are bigger than me and can skate faster and they can be kind of fast. But even thow I got the puck today I shared it. I will NEVER qwit hockey! I love it! THE END!

How I Made a Difference on December 8, 2007

Today I made a difference by collecting outgrown coats that I will donate to the Project Flight commitee at my school. My mom and I are going to go out and buy new hats and gloves to put on the hat and glove tree at school that will also go to the Project Flight program. They will be collected to benefit our local  Haven House.

 I hope that people will like my coats and are warm in them!

My classmates and my friends donated SO MANY BOOKS that the entire back of my parent’s Santa Fe is PACKED to the roof! We also went to my Aunt Joanie and Uncle Mike’s today to pick up more–thank you Aunt Joan and Uncle Mike. And thank you Mrs. Cairnes for bringing that big box over too!

IMPORTANT REMINDER:

Those of you who would like to be in the running for one of our grand prizes on Christmas night will need to be “in the game” by midnight tonight in New York State. So far, we have 24 people who have been competing almost every day and many, many others who are doing things at least once a week! And don’t worry because if you miss this deadline, you can still qualify for one of our “better late than never” prizes! This has been really fun! I love reading about all of the interesting things that you are all doing to make a difference. Take a peek at the “nice list” to see for yourself!!!!!

 

Making a List…Checking it Twice….

Laura and I spent some time this evening transferring her “paper” records to an excel spreadsheet so that we are able to keep track of who is making a difference. We have been updating it each evening by adding whatever you’ve reported in your comments here or on the blogs we’ve linked to below. If you are uncertain whether or not you are on our list, please feel free to email us at twentyfivedays(at)gmail(dot)com, and we will be able to confirm this for you. 

We are also trying to add updates to the “nice” list at the top of our home page daily, so our visitors can take a peek at all the good you are doing. It truly makes us smile!

How I Made a Difference on December 6, 2007

Today I made a difference by making lunch for Nina and I. I made a pb&j sandwitch I put an orange in and Ritz Bitz. Also I made a difference by ironing my clothes. I ironed my pants, and my shirt. I offeredto iron Nina’s clothes but she said no.

I also made a difference by sending letter to the soilders in Iraq. I sent two so far and I will send more later. You can write some letters to by going on to Let’s Say Thanks.

Today the kids in my class donated more books. Now I brought home three potato bags, and three tops bags filled to the top with books! If you would like to donate books to a nearby charity,  I recommend donating to somewhere where you know your books will be put to good use. Ours are going to Roswell Park Institute. Thank you so much for donating books if you are in my class!

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This week I’ve realized that if I do good I will feel realy good about myself. I think that if  everyone did at least one good deed you will feel good and the world will also be a better place.

This week one thing  that made me feel special is when Mr. Carr wrote about me on his blog and offered to match my funds because I had no idea that that would ever happen! Also I would like to give a HUGE thanks to everyone that has written about me or has matched my funds! I am very surprised! 

Classroom Challenge: The Pot Has Been Sweetened

Susan, the “mommy” being supported by Team Why Mommy has offered the most AMAZINGLY COOL donation for the winners of our classroom challenge. Here, I’ll just cut and paste her magical words from the comment, where they are not nearly as visible as they should be:

This is a great idea!  If you need a prize for the winning classroom, I can offer this:  A 4 foot x 3 foot photo printout of the Martian landscape taken by the Mars rovers, a packet of solar system lithographs, and a special video conference call (or audio, if the school doesn’t have a webcam) with two NASA scientists.  We’ll give a talk and answer questions from the winning class.  Sound like fun?

Good luck to everyone!
Susan (WhyMommy from Toddler Planet)

So? Any takers? If your classroom would like to participate in this challenge, please leave us a comment or drop us an email. All information about the classroom challenge will soon be moved to a separate page, with a tab at the top for finding it.

How About a Classroom Challenge?

Twenty Five Days to Make a Difference was the brainchild of my ten year old daughter, Laura, but our ability to get this site up and running was heavily influenced by a number of other people, and every single one of them is a teacher. I spent twelve years in the classroom myself, and I currently work for Erie 1 BOCES. My work affords me the opportunity to learn from some rather amazing people, including Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. My little family was blogging in several capacities long before I made their acquaintance, but it’s been through the 21st Century Learning initiative that I’ve come to truly appreciate how blogging can revitalize classroom instruction and begin to better meet the needs of the learners that are currently sitting in our classrooms. Our kids deserve to learn this way. They want to. And I’m excited to be a part of the growing movement that Will and Sheryl have started in our region.

As a mom, it was very difficult for me to witness the death of a grandfather that both of my girls adored, and honestly, when Laura decided that she wanted to dedicate a blog to this loss, my husband and I were a little concerned. Her decision to do this became an important teaching point in our home, and Laura is learning, with all of your help, how good can be found inside of even the worst tragedies. Watching the waves roll out from the tiny stone she cast into this cyber-universe has been an experience like no other for all of us. The magnitude of this experience could not have been realized without the use of technology. We all encourage our children to “pay it forward”…but being able to visibly WATCH exactly how far and wide these acts of kindness can travel is an important gift that blogging has provided us.

Internet safety issues concern all of us. When Laura pulled in 1000 hits on her first day, I will admit that a nice little knot formed in my stomach. But here we are an additional 4000 hits later, and I have yet to receive a single inappropriate message or piece of spam. Many people assume that when we put a child on the internet, we are inviting trouble. I think Laura is doing a lot to prove that it is possible for kids to do tremendous good and remain very safe. I honestly expected that I might be dealing with the worst of what the world has to offer when I sat down in my pajamas and opened her stats page on Sunday morning. I almost wanted to tear the blog down, because I was afraid. Instead, I shored up the safeties as much as I knew how, and I remained faithful. The fact is, I have approved every single comment we’ve received, and I’ve been overcome by the realization that when Laura challenged the internet to “good things” it performed way beyond her expectations.

I think the world is like this too. So, I appreciate the lesson.

This morning, Laura received a second matching funds request from an educator and his family. Pat Aroune is part of the 21st Century Learning Initiative, and ironically, Laura has known his daughter for some time now. This matching funds offer will be combined with the donation provided by Mike and Liz Fisher, the two teachers from Starpoint who contributed on Monday.

On Christmas night, Laura and I would like to award a prize to ONE classroom that makes the most difference between now and December 25th. But here’s the catch: whatever you do needs to supported, in some way, by technology. Blogging has done a lot of good for a lot of people here at Twenty Five Days this week. We’d like to challenge teachers and their students to use technology to do some good as well.

 If you are in, please email us or leave a comment on this post! We will be creating a new page for teachers and students later on tonight…more details to come.