The Leader of the Month

Noah is delightful in so many wonderful ways. He is growing and learning so much in Kindergarten. I adore watching him grow bigger in mind and spirit. One particular area of growth is in his personal responsibility. Our school is a Leader in Me and a Lighthouse school within that program. This effects the atmosphere in such a positive way. Our sweet kids are super friendly and helpful little leaders. It is really a special and unifying characteristic at the school. We celebrate our leaders every month at a special assembly. 

Noah has been dying to be the Leader of the Month. They get recognized at the assembly, get BoJangles Biscuits with their parents and Pizza with the Principal. All of that is pretty close to heaven for a Kindergartner. 

In September Noah got a yellow "dot" on his behavior chart (red is worst and then goes yellow, green is ready to learn and then blue and purple top the chart for extra awesome friends and leaders). He was devastated. He cried and said " I will never be Leader of the month!" He set a goal that day....the boy who wouldn't pedal his trike because it was too tough....that he would be blue or purple everyday in October and earn his spot. Setting a goal and make choices everyday that lead you to the goal is part of Leader in Me. It is one of the Seven Habits that Noah learned about....Having the End in Mind. He worked  everyday towards his goal. And he did it. Blue or purple everyday. EVERYDAY ABOVE AND BEYOND. 

What gets me in the heart the most about this wasn't the big moment of celebrating or the fact that he was so good for a month, but that he saw something he wanted and worked HARD to get it. And then he did. That is a tough life lesson and I am so happy that he was able to learn a little bit about it at age five. It has translated to practicing football and riding his bike without training wheels and working hard at math and reading. 

Another aspect of being Leader of the Month that really warmed my heart was being at school! Unless magically I had had first period prep I wouldn't have been able to swing by for his assembly. But working there with him I got to photograph the whole precious thing...

Noah and his buddy Ella. 

Being super silly. He was so excited. 

His sweet face when they called out his name. Love it! 

A little mixture of shyness and excitement standing with Dr. Cameron during the presentation. 

Comparing and contrasting their certificates. (I promise that is what they told me they were doing..... it was their skill this week.)

Biscuits :)