Move Over Johnny Appleseed, There's a New Girl in History!

I have had a fabulous day!!! I spend my Friday's volunteering at my younger daughter's school for her 5th grade class and today was just amazing! I had asked her teacher if I could do a read-a-loud and she welcomed the idea with open arms. Of course, I was nervous because, well, they're 5th graders!

I decided to read to them "Wangari's Trees of Peace", because I had come across the book last year and had not had the chance to read it to a class. I kept going back and forth on the content because it does have a couple sentences about Wangari being clubbed by soldiers and thrown in prison. But I felt so strongly that the message in the book was too important not to share with the students. Basically, that Wangari kept doing what she knew was right and didn't let anyone stop her. After reading the book the class and I had a fabulous discussion on Wangari, her beliefs and how one person can really make a difference.

One girl brought up learning about Johnny Appleseed in the 1st grade and that he "kinda did the same thing". This got me to thinking that Wangari is much more of an inspiration than Johnny Appleseed and I asked the kids if they had a choice, who would they want to study. They chose Wangari. Mostly because she is a recent person in history. For me, it is because she is a woman, in Africa, who followed her heart and her head and didn't let anyone stop her!

I then showed this video to the class, explaining that the power of one can go far and that you should never give up on what you feel is right and believe in. It was a great day!