“I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.”
- Linus Van Pelt, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
This is my favorite quote at Christmas time.
It’s at the heart of my teaching practice.
As I begin each school year, I look into the eyes of my students.
I hug, high five, fist bump, hand shake or silly dance with them as they come through the classroom door.
I think to myself, “Needs a little love, needs a little love, needs a little love,” as each one snaps, crackles and pops to the tables.
Who among us doesn’t need a little love?
This morning, we set up our classroom tree.
It really is a bad little tree.
It could’ve stayed in the back corner of the 4th grade hall storage room.
Or we could’ve set it on the side of the road with a “Take Me, Please” sign on top of it.
But it needed us.
And we needed it.
Look at the origami my students created with which to decorate it.
They even made origami whales…for me.
They gave it a little love.
They gave me a little love.
Look how beautiful it has become.
Look how beautiful they are.
All on an early December day in Public School.
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