Sweet Surprise

Here's a highlight of my week at school: While teaching a kindergarten class one morning, I had to remind a little boy several times to sit up, as his preferred learning position is lying down! This child has special needs and is mainstreamed into a regular classroom. Anyway, I was putting on a puppet show using an impulsive puppy and a slow, thoughtful snail. The lesson was on calming down anger, and I had four ideas to share with the children via the puppet show. Shortly before the end of the skit, this little wiggly boy was called out to go to another class he attends. Quickly jumping up to leave my room, he widened those eyes, bounced around a bit, and with great enthusiasm said loudly, "Thanks for the show...Breathe, count, click, boss!" and ran out to his next class. I was astounded and so happy because these were the exact four teaching points I'd been trying to get across to the students. Lesson learned: Don't ever underestimate children's capacities to learn and grow!