Some thing to smile about

Our elementary school, like many others, has a moment at the beginning of the day for school-wide announcements. In our school, the Morning Announcement also includes the Pledge of Allegiance and our school's Learning Pledge.  Each morning, coming together as a school community, we recite both pledges together.As you can imagine, sometimes a student will be in the hallway just as the announcement is starting.  Given the location of my classroom (at the intersection of two hallways), I often get a bird's eye view of how students handle being "caught" in the hallway during the Pledge of Allegiance.To my knowledge, without any adult prompting, students - singularly or in groups - stop at my doorway, face the flag visible from the doorway, put hand over heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. No big deal as far as the students are concerned; they are doing what is expected to get our day started. Upon finishing the Pledge, the students continue on their mission without missing a beat.Coming together as a community of 500 or so learners is an important way we get started on our day.  In a time when we are hearing about all the ways schools and students allegedly do not measure up, here is something for which we can be proud. And to think that the kids thought this up themselves. As teachers and parents, we must be doing something right.