Look for the Helpers

Happy Friday Everyone, Sometimes, when you are having a bad day, one strategy you can employ is to just show up.  When you show up, you've conquered the first big hurdle, and maybe just maybe things will work out better than you expected.   Once you show up, reach out for support, use your resources - don't be afraid to ask for what you need.  Because of the way our brains work - jumping to the worst possible scenario the moment there is a problem or conflict - the hardest part can become taking the first step.     I am proud of you all for showing up this week - keep up the good work Cougars!  See you back here on Monday.  Be Well, Mrs. Hempey   

Happy Thursday Everyone! Just in case you've not been tuning in, I'll plug the videos Nurse Saunders has been posting in the morning announcements lately.  There are some great ones!  Today's video was super important and is worth posting here too.  Have a look...  In the interest of finding silver linings, I'll say that the COVID pandemic has really helped bring attention to mental and emotional health.  In many ways, it has reduced the stigma around depression and anxiety. Because so many people have struggled over the past year, the door has been opened to conversations with friends and neighbors about how individuals are truly fairing.   The pandemic has helped to normalize feelings of helplessness and isolation, which we all feel at times.  For some folks, these kinds of feelings interrupt the ability to function well within everyday routines like coming to school and going to work.  With so many people feeling anxious about our current ...

Hi Everyone!   Happy Wednesday!  I know you have probably all heard of the song All of Me , by John Legend.  The song is about loving someone despite their imperfections.  No, I am not here to talk about crushes and finding your soul mate...I actually think that this song and the video I am posting below give a great illustration of how we need to love our own perfect imperfections.   The Gifted Teacher, the YouTuber featured here, is attempting to show how vocals that are digitally edited are different from raw vocals.  With his demonstration about signing and vocals, which I admittedly know nothing about, the teacher, unknowingly, gave a great little SEL lesson.  We...that is humans - middle schoolers especially...spend a lot of our daily existence thinking about how we measure up.  Unfortunately, a lot of the measuring we do is against an unrealistic yardstick.   We measure ourselves against airbrushed photos, digitally enha...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Over this last year, it has become very evident to most folks who the important people are in our lives.  The important people have become evident because they have been the people that have been closest to us during the pandemic.  They have been our rocks (think parents, siblings, children, and other immediate family members).   Also, folks at school who we have been lucky enough to connect with since last September have become part of our close circles.   Because of imposed distance, our eyes have also been opened to those who are most important to us that we haven't been able to physically connect with.  We've had the chance to understand the value that these folks add to our lives and how they change us for the better.  For myself, because I haven't been able to see some folks for an extended period of time, I have been able to reflect on just how much they mean to me.  I so look forward to reconnecting with them, ...

Good Afternoon to you all, and welcome back to the home stretch!   Today seems like a good day to share some simple wisdom that you can tuck away and use when you need it in these last 33 days of school.    When students started arriving this morning, despite it being day 137ish of school, it kind of felt like the first day of school all over again.  I think it felt this way for me because it was the first day in such a long time that everyone came into the building together to be a full Cougar community.  (And I didn't have to ask anyone if they were having diarrhea today....haaaaaaaaa!!!) Generally, on the first day of school, most of us are psyched and ready to put our best foot forward.  We're ready to make the most of the fresh new school year.  Oftentimes, by day 137, we are all a bit tired and draggy - were ready for a prolonged break, and we've had our fill of tired old routines.  So what luck.  We get a mini fresh start!...

Happy Friday Everyone! I am happy to report, to those of you that read yesterday's blog, that I screwed up the courage to chat with my hygenist yesterday at my dental cleaning appointment, and the result was great!  I still don't like to get my teeth cleaned, but she gave me some really good ideas for reducing the pain, handed me two Advil to take prior to any scraping, and was able to rub numbing gell over my gums as she worked. Even though it didn't make it pain-free, it made it tolerable.  I am so happy I decided to speak up and advocate for what I needed.  Let this be a lesson...when you ask for what you need in respectful, mature, and appropriate ways, you can often come to, at least a compromise, but hopefully a solution that works for everyone!    Okay...enough about my teeth!   Let's move on to more important things like getting excited for the break next week, and gearing up for a four-day-a-week in-person learning scenario for our 7th and 8th...

Happy Thursday Everyone, Today, I have to do a hard thing... I have to go to the dentist's office to get my teeth cleaned.  😟  I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, and I feel like I am a pretty brave person, willing to face hard things, but I greatly dislike going to the dentist's office.   The last time I was there, tears were running down my face as my teeth were being cleaned because the scrapey-sharp thing hurt as it was gnashing into my soft gums.  (Yeah, you can imagine it right?)   I think I build up lots of plaque, so the hygenist has to scrape pretty hard.  I am doubly worried today because due to appointments I had to cancel and COVID, I haven't been to the dentist in a couple of years.  I hate to think how much plaque is in there even though I brush regularly, floss, and use mouthwash.   Ugh...I am just dreading it!  But I know it has to be done, I would like to keep my teeth, and it's good for my overall health...