Suzanne Wolf

It has been a privilege and pleasure to teach a love of reading and writing to 2nd and 3rd graders for almost 20 years! Now that I have published my first book, I can continue to model to all of "My Babies" to dream big and persevere! This book is particularly special to me because Room 23 and I shared a very memorable but frightening day together in December of 2014. Our school was placed in lock down and while I knew something terrible was happening a few miles away, I had to compartmentalize and reassure kids that "We were having a special after-school party with Miss Wolf." They got out their backpacks and laid on the ground, I threw out pieces of candy and read to them. They always loved when I read to them. When the final student was picked up and it was time to drive home, I called my mother hysterically. I had found out that there had been a tragedy and that I didn't know how to keep kids reassured and safe the next day. I decided to start the school day letting kids know that there are great people out there that wake up every morning to keep us safe, and I wanted us to write them thank-you notes. We wrote to the Director of Security, Guy Grace, who was the first responder at the scene the day of the tragedy. My students wrote to thank him for keeping them safe and told him all about themselves. They decorated the cards and I delivered them to Guy and his staff. I wanted them to know of all the kids still counting on them during this devastating time. We adopted Guy to come and read to us and it created an opportunity for healing and a powerful bond every time we had to go on lock down, that "Our Buddy Guy Grace Who Keeps Us Safe" was out there keeping us safe. My students were all so much calmer during those times. They knew the real person out there keeping them safe and he knew them. Guy came up with the idea of writing a book to reassure kids of all the ways they were already safe, and some guidelines for times they might not be in the classroom. Since he is on several boards and speaks nationally, we used guidelines from NASRO (National Association of Student Resource Officers) and PASS (Partners and Alliance for Safer Schools) so that all educators could utilize our book to empower parents, educators, visitors, and staff to have an action plan. I brought it to life and Michelle Nethercot took faces of actual students and brought them to life. While there are many safety programs out there with much more specific guidelines to keep kids safe, this book sets the tone to consider some options while out of the classroom. It is important to simply have an action plan. Just as we say in the book, "Just like there are rarely fires in your school, you still practice fire drills regularly. This is something that may never happen but it is important to have a new safety routine."We have an entire series on keeping kids safe in and out of school and are eager to empower everyone to feel safer wherever they choose to learn!