I recently finished the New York Times bestselling memoir, Educated, by Tara Westover. It is a book club’s dream title, as there are multiple themes and topics for discussion. The author delves deeply into family relations, mental illness, women’s roles, off-grid living, holistic medicine, and more. Like any good book, it made me think… A…
Category: Mindfulness in School
Raising Lifelong Learners: Fostering a Thirst for Knowledge Outside of School
“Lifelong Learner.” It has a nice ring to it, no? (I’ve always been a big fan of alliteration.) It is one of my favorite educational catch phrases, and one I admit to attaching to many of my own professional bios over the years. It implies an unending curiosity and ability to absorb information. The defining…
Cathartic Creativity
Being able to express ourselves artistically is a big part of what makes us human. We pour complex thoughts and emotions into a medium for others to then experience with their senses. The result is a conjuring of similar thoughts or emotions that remind us that we are not alone… in our joy, pain, happiness,…
Tech Addiction and Digital Well-being
The other day we finally had a glimpse of beautiful, spring weather. I literally pried the Xbox remotes from my sons’ hands and shoved my boys through the front door to go play with their neighborhood friends outside. In addition to recognizing their dire need for a dose of vitamin D, my concern about their…
Golden Sparkles: An Introduction to Mindfulness, by Catarina R. Peterson. Illustrations by Mateya Arkova
Golden Sparkles: An Introduction to Mindfulness What ARE “golden sparkles?” As the beautiful text by Catarina R. Peterson unfolds, accompanied by the whimsical illustrations of Mateya Arkova, the reader begins to understand that “golden sparkles” describes the sensation that fills our hearts during mindful interaction with the world around us. Golden Sparkles taps into the…
Mindfulness: Actualized In My Library
After a long, restful, mindful holiday with my family, I am finally back to my blog! It just feels like the perfect time to reflect on my progress so far this past year implementing mindfulness in my library. As readers may know from my previous posts, my interest in mindfulness began as a personal quest…
Meditation Is an Open Sky: Mindfulness for Kids, by Whitney Stewart with pictures by Sally Rippin
This book is a complete gem. Even though the intended audience is K through 3, I can see using this in my collection as an instruction manual for mindfulness for my middle schoolers (as well as their teachers!). The strength of this book is the fact that it provides a variety of actual mindfulness practices…
For Mindful Parents/Teachers: The First Days of School
The faint chill in the air, the hints of yellows and reds in the trees, the first flights of flocks of fully-grown geese… AND the push and shove of antsy parents scrambling for that last orange, plastic, three-hole binder at Target can mean only one thing… TIME FOR SCHOOL!!!! Now add the letter from…
Space Camp (Part II of II): Mindful Teachers Become Students… Communication and Collaboration
(Read Part 1, “Mindfully Embracing an Opportunity”) After arriving at NASA’s Space Camp, parting from our accompanying students, getting the grand tour, and settling into our rooms, we were ready to begin the Space Camp for Educators experience. On multiple occasions, our counselors told us to “prepare to embrace our inner 12 year olds,” or…
Space Camp (Part I of II): Mindfully Embracing an Opportunity
The 9th of July had arrived. My sons and I had just returned to New York from a trip to Florida, and here I was, back at the airport with two jittery students on the beginning of our journey to Huntsville, Alabama for a week of Space Camp. The first thought that ran through my…
The Mindful Librarian 
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