Kindle the Fire

When the weather decides it would be a good day for a fire in the fireplace (or, in my case, a wood stove), there are certain steps taken to create the fire. First, you have to make sure you have wood and kindling, as these create the way for the fire itself to take hold and start the process. Without kindling, your ability to light a fire in a fireplace is difficult. Kindling can be small twigs, strips of wood, crumpled newspapers, or a variety of store-bought fire starters. You begin by placing the base logs down on the grate and then place newspaper or other tinder underneath. Add the remaining logs on top and place the other kindling in the middle of the log stack. Then light the newspaper and let it carry the flame to the kindling pieces. Once tinder has caught fire, its heat can get the kindling burning. So, tinder catches a spark and grows an ember, and kindling is what is used to go from that to flame.

Much in the same way, a teacher teaches by finding the right tinder for their students; it really is all about tending the flame so it becomes stronger and brighter. This is one of the reasons that the Forney Education Foundation has a torch with a flame at the center of its emblem. The logo designer, Kody Kasper, is a third generation Forney ISD graduate and understood firsthand how a well-tended flame of knowledge makes all the difference in an education and a good education. That is why she made the lit torch the main look with a stylized ”F” in the flames themselves.

There have been many, many wonderful teachers in Forney ISD that have tended to the flames of knowledge for their students. We at the Foundation have had the opportunity to meet them through the teacherrequested grant program where these teachers have been able to stack the logs of learning goals and light the tinder to get a spark which, in turn, lights the kindling into flames of knowledge. Would you like to help light that fire in our students? Just visit www.forneyisdfoundation. org and see how easy it can be to help light the flame of knowledge!