February Calendar Corner

The February sunshine steeps your boughs,
And tints the buds and swells the leaves within.

- from "Twenty Second of February"
by William Cullen Bryant

Monthly Celebrations
African American History Month
American Heart Month
National Children's Dental Health Month
Love the Bus Month
Library Lovers Month
Youth Leadership Month

Weekly Celebrations
First Week: National New Idea Week
Third Week: Random Acts of Kindness Week

Daily Celebrations
February 01: World Read Aloud Day
February 01: Imbolc
February 02: Groundhog Day
February 02: Candlemas
February 03: Elmo's Birthday
February 04: Charles Lindberg - 1902
February 04: Homemade Soup Day
February 04: Thank a Mailman Day
February 05: National Girls and Women in Sports Day
February 05: National Weatherman's Day
February 06: Ronald Reagan - 1911
February 06: Waitangi Day - New Zealand made part of the British Empire 1840
February 07: Laura Ingalls Wilder -1867
February 07: Charles Dickens - 1812
February 08: Boy Scout Anniversary
February 08: Jules Verne - 1828
February 09: Tu B'Shevat (Jewish festival celebrating New Year for trees)
February 09: National Weather Bureau Established 1870
February 10: Umbrella Day
February 11: Make a Friend Day
February 11: Inventor's Day
February 11: Thomas Edison 1847
February 12: Abraham Lincoln 1809
February 13: Library Lover's Day
February 14: Ferris Wheel Day - 1859
February 14: Read to Your Child Day
February 14: Valentine's Day
February 15: Galileo Galilei - 1564
February 15: National Gumdrop Day
February 17: President's Day
February 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day
February 19: Nicolaus Copernicus - 1473
February 20: Love Your Pet Day
February 22: George Washington - 1732
February 22: World Thinking Day
February 24: Wilheim Carl Grimm - 1786
February 25: Mardi Gras
February 25: International Pancake Day
February 25: Pierre Auguste Renior - 1841
February 26: Tell a Fairy Tale Day
February 27: International Polar Bear Day
February 27: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1807
February 28: National Tooth Fairy Day
February 29: Leap Day

Martin Luther King Jr Day 2020

We enjoyed an all day program at the Club this week for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I love all day program days because I feel like it really gives us a chance to bring in some cool extras that we don't get to provide for the everyday after school program.

This year we celebrated with having Miss Huckleberry read with the kids to emphasize the importance of learning and education and to also share her experience of becoming Miss Huckleberry (a local contest that is a step toward Miss Oklahoma).

Adam from the Cherokee Area Council of Boy Scouts visited (side note: if your Club isn't having visits your local Scouting groups, you're missing a great opportunity) and taught our kids about American symbols, flag etiquette, and basic citizenship. I have to give a shout out to Adam - he always has come and provided great programming for our long days and he's a true Boy Scout - he always leaves our place better than he found it.

I wanted to be sure that we also talked about the famous I Have a Dream speech made by Dr. King and what it actually meant. We started out by learning who Dr. King was and I pulled in one of my favorite video presenters - Kid President.

We then watched a short video of the actual speech and we talked about what our dreams are - our dreams for our own lives, our community, and our world. We prepared the space for this discussion by cutting out three large clouds from butcher paper and labeling each one My Life, My Community, and My World. I had the kids each write at least one dream for each category on sticky notes and then put their sticky notes on the appropriate cloud. Then we shared some of the dreams we all had.

After the I Have a Dream activity, there was a bit of time left in the rotation period so we played the Human Knot game as a lesson in cooperation. The kids loved it!

Of course, the day would not be complete without a service project or two. We had some great volunteers from our local Junior College come in and work on creating hundreds of boxes for our annual Love the Club chocolate covered strawberry fundraiser. Some of our kids couldn't resist jumping in and helping with the boxes too!

Another great project we did was a Valentine for a Vet. We made valentine cards to send to a very special vet (but I'll post about that later this week). Each one of our kiddos made a valentine card to share.

All in all, it was a great day - full of community building, service, and learning disguised as fun (my favorite kind!).

January Calendar Corner

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

ring, happy bells, across the snow;

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.
- from "In Memoriam"
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Monthly Celebrations
National Hobby Month
Read a New Book Month
National Blood Donors Month
National Soup Month

Weekly Celebrations
First Week: Spontaneous Celebrations Week
Second Week: Letter Writing Week
Last Week: International Forgiveness Week

Daily Celebrations
January 01: New Year's Day
January 01: Paul Revere (1735)
January 01: Betsy Ross (1752)
January 01: Emancipation Proclamation Anniversary
January 02: Good Luck Day
January 03: J.R.R. Tolkien Day
January 04: Trivia Day
January 04: Jacob Grimm (1785)
January 05: George Washington Carver (d.1943)
January 05: National Bird Day
January 06: Epiphany Day
January 07: International Programmer's Day
January 10: Peculiar People Day
January 11: Amelia Earhart is the first female pilot to cross the Pacific Ocean
January 12: Jack London (1876)
January 15: Martin Luther King Jr (1929)
January 16: Appreciate a Dragon Day
January 17: Benjamin Franklin (1706)
January 17: Kid Inventors Day
January 18: Peter Mark Roget (1779) - Thesaurus Day
January 18: A.A. Milne (1882) - Winnie the Pooh Day
January 19: Edgar Allen Poe (1809)
January 20: Penguin Awareness Day
January 21: Squirrel Appreciation Day
January 22: School Nurse Day
January 23: John Hancock (1737) - National Handwriting Day
January 24: National Complement Day
January 25: Chinese New Year
January 25: Opposite Day
January 26: Australia Day
January 27: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756)
January 27: Lewis Carroll
January 28: Data Privacy Day