It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary... I did not have this blog last December, but I was on facebook... so I pulled my status from that night...
"We have to believe that there is still good in this world.
Yes, today was a sad and tragic day, but we must not lose sight of the fact
that children go to school and DO return home safely every day. Today is a
reminder to hug your babies even closer and be thankful for every moment you
have with them. There is still good in this terrible world. I am reminded of
that every time I look at my sweet students. Am I scared to go to work on
Monday? Absolutely not. I am saddened by what happened today and can't imagine
what that school must be going through. But I'm not going to leave the job I
love just because of a single, isolated incident. We never know when or if our
babies will be called home "too soon"... All we can do is love them
and teach them that in a world filled with hate and violence, there is still a
lot of good. We CAN attend school and feel safe."
To be honest, I can't think about it without crying.... I didn't know about the shooting until school had dismissed (it was on a Friday, which is "short day" in my school district, and I had recess duty that morning... so I hadn't had 2 seconds to myself the entire day!) I remember getting an email from my mom, who is a secretary at another elementary school nearby, and I had NO idea what she was talking about... I started googling it and went numb... I'm thankful that I didn't know until after my students were gone... because I needed time to process it all, and prepare myself to be strong for my darling little students... I posted that status first in reply to a family member who decided she was going to homeschool her children, and never let them out of sight.... And while what happened is certainly frightening, we can NOT let evil win.
I'm not the best with words, so I will stop rambling.... however, before I finish, I want to share a video I recently saw. Even though the shooting happened on the other side of the country, I quickly learned that one of the victims was originally from Utah... 6 year old Emilie Parker was born in Ogden, Utah, and her family hadn't been living in Newtown for very long when the shooting took place... they brought their sweet Emilie back to Utah as her final resting place... suddenly our state was involved in the shooting in ways we couldn't imagine... The city of Ogden covered the town in pink, Emilie's favorite color.... they wanted pink everywhere to welcome the family here under the most unimaginable of circumstances... I have sat in awe for the past 12 months as I have watched countless interviews with Emilie's parents, and have fallen in love with this blonde-haired, blue-eyed angel of theirs. Emilie's parents recently put this video together, and I bawl every time I watch it.... Evil did not win on that terrible day... and evil can NOT win in this world. We mustn't let it win.
As educators, we remember and honor our fallen colleagues
and their students from Sandy Hook School. We honor them each day in our
classrooms in which we continue their dream of teaching our children. We honor
their memory with our service. Join with teachers everywhere in committing
random acts of kindness to show our love for Sandy Hook.
Here are a few freebies from TeachersPayTeachers if you would like to incorporate random acts of kindles into your classroom. Click on the photo to go to the unit.
May these names never be forgotten....
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