Just in time for Safer Internet Day (February 8), NetSmartz is proud to announce the release of Cloud Quest- an interactive online safety adventure!Built as an e-learning module, this activity guides kids through each episode of season 1 of Into the Cloud with Clicky by their side acting as trusted adult and teacher to highlight important learning. Each video is accompanied by “Think About It” questions and fun activities like word searches, build-a-letter, picture puzzles, and more.
Clicky and the cast of season 1 of Into the Cloud lead students through:
What to do when dealing with cyberbullies
How to find trusted adults and helpers
How to protect online privacy
How to spot trustworthy information
What to do if you find something online that makes you sad, scared or confused, and
What to do if someone acts inappropriate online
Upon completion, students can print out or save a certificate of completion!
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to claim I have a new friend. Considering how we met I am still surprised at how much I learned from her. Our friendship started while a number of us were waiting for a table at Geaghan’s Restaurant in Bangor. She happened to sit across from me. I noticed she was writing and drawing in a notebook. It started with some accidental eye contact and elevated to smiles and winks. Nearly everyone else was fumbling with their smartphones. She was creating.
When I was called to my table I waved goodbye. A few minutes after being seated, we were both surprised that she and her family were brought in and seated very close by. But the biggest surprise came a few minutes later. My friend and her Mom came over to my table. She slipped a piece of paper in front of me. Mom apologized for the fact they didn’t have colors to make the rainbow. In third grade lettering, it said at the top, “Enjoy your dinner.”
My enthusiastic thanks were not at all exaggerated. I was truly impressed and appreciative. We chatted long enough for me to learn that she’s in third grade and her favorite subject is science. Although, based on her hesitancy in answering, I suspect the answer might be different on a different day. One more thing to love about third graders is that they don’t get locked into beliefs and biases.
For those who believe in karma or planets aligning, it’s interesting that I have had several accidental encounters with kids lately that have left me happy and encouraged. I stared at my drawing for a long time.
Did my new friend know that I love rainbows because they represent hope? I didn’t get a chance to tell her so I’m hoping she does or maybe finds out somehow. Stranger things have happened.
I didn’t have a notebook, but I did have a business card. So I wrote her a similar message on the back, encouraging her to not only enjoy dinner but to save some room for dessert. I drew a small cat, writing “cat” underneath the drawing in case it wasn’t recognizable. I’ve had kids tell me I do draw a good cat. In a way similar to her presentation, I took it over and slipped it in front of her, evoking a big grin. Her Mom and Dad both thanked me. I’m not sure why, but in a world rife with suspicion they weren’t finding our new friendship creepy!
I kept her drawing in front of me during dinner. The more I looked at it, the more color I saw–not in the drawing itself but in my friend’s dancing eyes and smile. She gave me more than a drawing. She reminded me that there is hope. Kids know how to connect and they know it’s important to do so. It’s natural for them. They also know that sometimes you have to look a little farther and deeper to see the color. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that sometimes you have to make the color. She colored my rainbow with her smile and her dancing eyes and the obvious pleasure it gave her to do something nice for someone. That’s how you color a rainbow.
When she left, I held up her drawing and said that I was going to put it on my fridge when I got home. That seemed to please her. I hope she realizes how much it pleases me–not just the drawing, but her act of unselfish creation for a stranger. It’s such a simple life lesson. Making others happy brings us happiness. Offering others hope in any form brings us hope. If a nine-year-old can create hope and happiness, cannot we who are older do the same?
If we listen and watch, they’ll teach us how to color a rainbow–even if you don’t have crayons.
Seven years ago, Julia had the fine distinction of being the youngest and smallest driver in a special class of oxen pulling I watched. It was both entertaining and impressive. I snapped some photos and wrote an article in the hopes people would appreciate her skill and accomplishment.
Over the years since, I’ve always kept an eye out for her whenever I attend a pulling. So even though we only had one day to take in the Fryeburg Fair this year, much of it was spent sitting on the bleachers in the pulling barn and wandering through the barns where oxen were kept for viewing.
About halfway through Barn 15, I was a bit surprised to see that article and the photos I took laminated and stapled to a post near several teams. I scribbled a note on the back of a business card and tucked it into the article. “We are only here for the day… hope to bump into you!”
And we did—although our conversation took place leaning over the rail between the stands and “pit” between events. We met Grandpa Steve first—he assured us that Julia is, in fact, still driving oxen and horses. He pointed out that she’s still on the petite side, so when she arrives home from school, he must harness the horses for her, but then she’s off breaking trails in the winter and helping him with chores. She’s also managing fourteen beehives in her spare time.
Dad and Mom soon joined our conversation. That’s when I learned how that pull seven years ago changed the face of pulling at fairs by demonstrating that kids (youth—not necessarily preschoolers) could safely manage teams. I confess hearing that made me feel a bit smug because the conclusion of that article was “Never underestimate a kid.”
Julia, age 11, points the way–in more ways than one!
Maybe another truth is “never underestimate the power of words.” While it was Julia and not my words that changed pulling at fairs, I am proud and humbled that those words I wrote seven years ago had significant meaning to Julia’s family. And who knows how many others? A lot of people were at the Fryeburg Fair. I want to think a few stopped to read the article stapled to the post. Apparently, the family found meaning in those words, and I gather the words travel with them to fairs.
It is equally apparent that Julia is a kid who would be easy to underestimate. She has a lot going on for her in terms of enthusiasm and determination. That’s just as apparent as it was seven years ago. Like many kids, it’s easy to be surprised by their potential. We didn’t get to watch her pull—that wasn’t happening until later in the week–but we did enjoy watching her serve as hitcher for her grandfather. Her parents were only too happy to share some of her many accomplishments. Julia also has achieved a rite of passage—during a pull a while back, she and her team broke a yoke. That demonstration of power is an achievement for both the team and the teamster.
While discussing Julia’s beehives, her Dad noted that Julia considers anything her grandfather does as “good.” Based on the way he said it, I think it falls into the category of an “open secret”—something everyone knows but doesn’t acknowledge openly.
When Julia arrived during our conversation, she of course had no idea who I was. She also didn’t realize how important she’s become to me. So, if she reads this, she’ll now know an “open secret.” I think a lot of her and admire her greatly!
You see, I drove to Fryeburg as much out of necessity as want. There’s been too much talk and thought about some “new normal” that seems to be about uncertainty with an unhealthy dose of pessimism stirred in. I needed to “center” and experience something reassuring and optimistic. I needed to be reminded that some things are certain, including the energy and enthusiasm of the kids we tend to underestimate. We often lament the world that we are going to leave for them and, in so doing, forget they will likely be better at managing it than we have been. For that reminder, thanks, Julia.
Who among us wouldn’t benefit from a little entertainment that’s sure to bring a smile?
Regular followers of this blog will likely remember some previous posts regarding the work of Steve Rapson and some of his work. He’s back again with some kitchen thoughts, especially for when the kids move back in… although the rules might apply to any adults attempting to share a kitchen.
Well, Anina is at it again. In her most recent email, she introduced her “Uncle Walter” and my recent post about her. She thinks it’s pretty cool that she’s been quoted but quickly adds, “I’m just a bit flattered. Mom said there is a Bible verse that says, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.’ So I’m trying to be meek.”
We ought to consider following her example and work on trying to be meek. Our society would benefit immensely from a better balance between meekness and self-confidence. I think Anina is already learning that those two qualities are not mutually exclusive. That’s pretty good for someone who just turned four months old.
How are you doing with it?
I have some more good news about Anina. Her Mom is posting her emails as episodes on Kindle Vella. This is a fairly new platform that I won’t pretend to be intimately familiar with. (Does that qualify as being meek?) You can read Anina’s first four episodes (emails) for free, then you buy very affordable tokens to “unlock” the others. I suspect Anina might explain, “A girl’s gotta eat, you know.”
Episode One is “1st Days on Planet Earth,” And starts when she’s ten days old. She explains that she decided to keep a journal so she’d remember what it was like being an infant. When she arrives home (day 3), she realizes she’s been there before because she remembers hearing things but is seeing things for the first time. That results in another bit of Anina Wisdom.
The world is a slightly different place when you see it from the outside.
Anina Mary
We do learn a lot from her, including the derivation and correct pronunciation of her name. I also learned that we share several important opinions of the world.
Walter Boomsma (“Mr. Boomsma”) writes on a wide array of topics including personal development, teaching and learning. Course information is also available here!
