About a week before school was out, I talked with a first grader who has a fun personality and great sense of humor. She had been seriously slacking on her work, and according to two of her teachers, she was doing basically nothing. In other words, the child had let herself start summer vacation early! After catching up on how things were going in her life, I brought up the subject of schoolwork. Furrowing her brow and looking innocent, the child shook her head and claimed not to know what I was talking about. "Well," I said. "Maybe I didn't understand your teachers correctly. Would you like for us to go down and talk to them?" Jerking her head up and widening her big blue eyes, she shook her head and said, "No." She looked back down at her play-doh for a moment and then, realizing that she was "busted", looked back up at me, grinned widely and said with enthusiasm, "HECK to the no!" After laughing together for a minute, which relieved some of the pressure of an uncomfortable topic, we were able to have a productive conversation. This little girl will be MISSED by me this summer, and I'll look forward to enjoying her again next school year!
