The concept of the joke book came when my dad was hospitalized and in a rehabilitation facility for 17 weeks for an infection about a year ago. I asked the students in my classes to write a joke on an index card and I placed each one into an envelope. I told my dad he could open up one joke a day.
That one joke a day became a hit. He would tell the nurses the joke, his roommate in the hospital the joke, and my brother, sister, mom and I would call or visit every day to hear what the joke of the day was. It was amazing that something so small was bringing all of us so much joy. When you are in the hospital for that long, having something small to look forward to (like opening up a joke) is just enough to get you through the day.
When my dad got out of the hospital, it was then that I decided that we should have something like the Creative Compassion Corner in the art room. It would give students an opportunity to do good deeds with their art and the first item that was in the book of projects was a joke book. This whole idea truly started with the concept of the "joke a day". I know that the children in Lucille Packard Children's hospital will enjoy reading their "joke a day" and get as much joy out of it as we did.
The highlight of my day today was hearing all of the funny jokes and seeing the kids faces light up when they got to their punch line. It was a joyful class time and I really enjoyed seeing the students work hard to do good for sick children in their community. Most did not finish their jokes today and they were stored away to be worked on when they finish class projects early in-class. But here are a few of the adorable joke pages that were completed today:
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