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!