Inspired by our Heroes!

Ann BB shared the story of her hero, Matthew Henson, the first person to reach the North Pole. This is the true story of the first person to stand on the top of the world!  Despite unbelievable obstacles, and 23 years of adventures and challenges, this amazing story tells about how Matt's determination led the expedition and never gave up! 

 

Later that week some first graders enjoyed a challenge at free choice where they lined up dominoes for a domino rally race!

It continued to be a challenge as someone would accidentally knock one domino and they would all fall or someone would bump the table and parts of the maze would fall. A first grader said, “I’m so bad at this” followed by another first grader who said, “You shouldn’t say that. You should say,…” First graders began yelling out “Never give up”, “You can do this”, “Don’t stop trying” and then a first grader said, wait, what did Matthew Henson say? “Keep on!” shouted first grade! 

A few days later, Andrea visited our classroom to share a story about her hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She read the story March On, The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World by Christine King Farris. This picture booked, like Ann’s, inspired us to keep using positive language, affirmations and attitudes when we face trials and challenges. Let’s keep inspiring one another, as our heroes did before us, to keep on and march on to equity and justice, kindness and love.

 

In honor of the Lunar New Year we read Ruby’s Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges, a true story about the courage, determination and independent spirit of a young girl who, in a time when only boys were allowed to learn to read and write and attended university, did not stop pursuing her dream and became one of the first female students accepted by a university.  

Our day could not have been more  inspiring, and then we went to the All-School Lunar New Year Celebration! We enjoyed various performances by AFS students and the Penn Lion Dancers and Instrumentalists. The program ended with a surprise video montage for the Upper School Chinese students sent by their parents and families wishing them the best for them in 2020! It was remarkable to think about Ruby and how her courage long ago contributed to the possibility of the female students here today, their journey from China to attend school here at AFS with the ambition and hope of their education here and beyond in college. The courage of these boys and girls to leave their home and family in pursuit of their education is truly inspiring. 

Thank you for supporting our first graders as they continue to research their hero. We look forward to learning about all of the first grade heroes in the weeks to come!  Happy Lunar New Year!