Unexpected Gracenotes

"What in the WORLD??" I asked myself as I headed toward my office at school early one morning. Treasures galore crowded a small wooden chair I keep outside my door.  This chair holds a writing tray on which first and second graders can leave letters and stories they've written for me.  On this particular day, I was excited to see a festive gold and white striped package topped with a sparkly bow, a hot pink envelope, and an intriguing teal and white fabric pouch.  These are not my typical offerings, as you might guess!  With anticipation, I unwrapped the package first, finding about ten second grade writings on heavy white cardstock.  The pages contained a fictional story, a couple of letters telling me what the child had learned in guidance classes, and several very creative songs written by the pretty blond author and a little boy in her class. Next I opened the bright pink envelope, which contained a sweet note written by the second grade girl's nine year old sister, who has moved on to the intermediate school.  In this letter, the older sister told me how much she missed seeing me and being a part of my classes, which warmed my heart.  Finally I opened the fabric drawstring bag, and tears sprang to my eyes.  Inside I found a long strand of white plastic beads which had been handstrung by the second grader along with five shiny metallic marbles.  Hugging these offerings to my heart, I stood alone in my room and gave thanks for pure little hearts who voluntarily shower so much generosity on their teachers.  Oh the joy of everyday blessings!

Say WHAT???

Push, pull, dangle!  That's one of the ways to help calm down that I'm teaching our kindergartners.  As part of a unit on calming strong feelings, we're learning some ideas that they can ALWAYS use (such as taking slow deep breaths and self-talk) along with some ways they can SOMETIMES use (such as talk, rest, exercise, and play).  After all, we never know when a strong feeling will overtake us!  Well one day last week, I taught the children how to release some tension through using their muscles without calling attention to themselves in class.  We practiced using our hands to push down firmly on the front of our thighs to a silent count of 10.  Then we put our hands on the backs of our thighs and pulled firmly. After this, we dangled our arms to relax our tired muscles.  Push, pull, dangle!  At the end of class, we were reviewing the 5 ways we can always use to calm down, even when we're in a car, the grocery store, or on the playground.  We chanted, "Breathe, count, click, boss, and push pull dangle" several times.  All of a sudden, I stopped reviewing and cracked up laughing.  A small blond boy on the front row was enthusiastically yelling, "Breathe, count, click, boss, and push pull STRANGLE!"  Of course I took some time to explain the difference in dangle and strangle, along with considering the fact that maybe I should rename this technique to push pull flop!  I can only imagine what his mom would have said if he'd gone home and told her that Miss Mimi taught him that when he gets mad he should push pull strangle!  I believe that would have been the OPPOSITE of what Miss Mimi was actually trying to teach.  Oh, the laughs I get every day as I work with 5, 6, and 7 year olds!

Message Received

Goosebumps and tears!  That's what I experienced after reading a long, detailed story written by one of my second grade boys recently.  This particular child is handsome, smart, creative, and sensitive.  He came to talk with me a few months ago, and since that visit I've been helping him make friends in his classroom.  During our first conversation, this child shared that his feelings had been hurt by a girl in his class whom he considered his best friend.  She had begun playing with other children, and my visitor felt confused and rejected.  Since I know this little girl and her mom and know how kind-hearted they are, I suspected that it was just a misunderstanding and believed I'd be able to help.  I talked with the classroom teacher, who talked with the little girl's mom.  Not surprisingly, the mother did all she could to remedy the situation, talking with her daughter and bringing a special lunch to school for her little girl and the boy to share.  The next week, my friend chose to bring the girl to my room with him, where they talked, got to know each other better, and played.  For the past month or so, things between the two have been smooth and happy.  Well one of my goals this year is to encourage writing in the first and second graders.  I have a box outside my office door where students who choose to do so can leave papers they've written for me.  I read each carefully, put a tally mark by the writer's name, and give writing reports to each classroom every time I visit them.  Because my second grade friend told me that he liked to write science fiction stories during any free time he had at school, I asked him to share one of his "books" with me.  The next day a VERY detailed, descriptive, LONG story appeared in my mailbox, complete with a colorful cover illustration.  It was called Liam's Adventure I and had 7 chapters:  The Shine of Black, The Fall of Misery, The Frozen Winter, The Prophecy Finally Makes Its Way, The Volcanic Summer, The Good Bye, and The Red Wonder.  Each was filled with fascinating imagery, and the writing was made adorable by typical second grade letter reversals and misspellings. In every chapter, there was a problem that was resolved. This child could have a writing future ahead of him! But the part that brought on my chills and dewy eyes was the final paragraph. It had no title, was simply listed as Chapter 8, and was comprised of 3 sentences.  These weren't just any 3 sentences, though, for the little blue-eyed boy had shown me that his counseling sessions had helped him, and he'd woven this message into his elaborate science fiction story.  This is what his final paragraph said:

 "About the other...the whole point I'm trying to make is that things break and get repaired.  One day my friend went away, but in the end we came back together.  So work for things."

It's good for all of us to occasionally see results of our work, and this precious little boy's tale absolutely made my day!