Made by the Hand of a Child

A Gift for YOU!

Here are some inspirational thoughts for you in the coming year. I know how much you give each day, so may these sayings reaffirm you and fill your heart.

One hundred years from now it will not matter where I lived, how big my bank account was, or what kind of car I drove, but the world may be a better place because of something I did in the life of a child.

People sing because they’re happy, and they’re happy because they sing.

Good books are like good friends you want to visit again and again.

“Teaching is not the point – learning is the point.” Howard Gardner

Happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the journey.

All children are wonderful. You don’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.
(Fortunately, you don’t have to be perfect to be a wonderful teacher, either!)

If I think I can ~ I can!

Childhood should be a walk of discovery, not a race to the finish line.

We must all paint our rainbows with the colors we are given.

Don’t let anybody take away your JOY today!

Teachers who love teaching make children who love learning.

Music is the magic door into the heart, soul, and mind of a child.

For those who dream, there is no such place as far away.

You must first love a creepy caterpillar before you can love the beautiful butterfly.

Teachers plant shade trees under which they’ll never sit.

People don’t stop playing because they grow old.
They grow old because they stop playing.

All children smile and sing in the same language.

Behind every great student is a great teacher.

Death is silent. Learning is noisy.

We say “I CAN” in our country because we are AmeriCANS, not Americant’s.

Catch me a fish and I eat for a day.
Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime!

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it’s really all about?

All children are gifted – some just open their presents a little later than others.

Yesterday was the past. Tomorrow is the future. But today is a gift.
That’s why it’s called the PRESENT!

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

“Strengthen the parent and you strengthen the child.” Fred Rogers

Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.

Often happiness calls, but we are too busy to answer.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

You are the only person you will never leave or lose, so you must have a good relationship with yourself.

It takes 72 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt in the heart.” --Helen Keller

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

It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.

It’s not so much that every child be taught, as that every child be given the desire to learn.

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes a lasting impression.

Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference!

One of the hardest things to give away is kindness. Somehow it keeps coming back.

“Use what talents you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang the best.” --Henry Van Dyke

”To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” --Robert Louis Stevenson

Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
And dance like no one is watching!

We can’t all be stars, but we can all twinkle.

Believe in children. Give them roots and give them wings!

Never, ever, ever give up! Miracles happen every day!

The things that make us different are the things that we should cherish about each other.

We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

If you can dream it, you can do it.

Enthusiasm is unmistakable evidence that you’re in love with your work.

A school is four walls with the future inside.

To teach is to touch a life.

Sometimes in our search for happiness, we need to stop, be thankful, and just be happy.

If a child does not learn the way we teach her, let us teach her the way she learns.

Practice random acts of kindness and senseless deeds of beauty.

We are so busy trying to give children things we didn’t have that we are failing to give them what we did have!

“If you’re not having fun teaching, then you’re doing something wrong!” --Jean Feldman

Danene Taylor in Cedar City, Utah, created these cards several years ago. Use the Downloads menu at the left to find and download the cards. You can turn them into a little book or cut them apart and keep them in an envelope. Choose one each day and post it in your classroom or in the faculty workroom. Love what you do and believe it matters!

Wishing you wonderful holiday memories and the happiest New Year!                                    Dr. Jean