“I’ll push you!” Brady says, jumping off his own swing to go behind Troy.

“OK?” Troy responds, doubtful of how this is going to work.

He “pushes” and Troy starts to move, in large part because Troy is making it happen with his feet. The swing and the much larger child start gaining some momentum. Unfortunately, Brady’s timing is a little off…and…Whack! Brady goes flying backward into the wood chips.

We all laughed and Brady picked himself up out of the chips. No big deal for this kid. But it did change his focus a bit…

“I’ll throw this at you,” Brady says with a mischievous smile, gathering dirt and wood chips in this hands…

I love strong, stubborn kids – and my class is full of them this year!  However, it can be exhausting trying to change the way they do something…example:  periods.

Bookstore.

Son.

Reading.

Laughter.

Floor sitting.

Perfection.

He put on my apron before starting to chop the veggies.

“You look good in pink,” I complimented him.

“I look good in every color,” he replies.

Chop. Chop. Chop.

Scribble.

Veggies are sauteed and the steak gets dumped into the hot pan.

“The sounds of a thousand screaming souls,” he states, referring to the sizzling steak.

Sizzle.  Sizzle. Sizzle.

Scribble.

“Are you writing down everything that I say?”

I sure am.  It’s March!

Scribble.

 

 

We stood on the stairs, waiting for the bell to ring. It was 2:59, the end of a very long day. Their excited speech echoed through the stairwell. It took all the energy I had left to keep them in line and not screaming.

I was talking to one student when I looked up a few steps. Ms. Fruity (self-proclaimed nickname of one of my third graders) turned and pressed her face against the cold white stones of the wall and sniffed. “The wall smells like fart.”

“Who wants to get wet?”

It didn’t really register right away. I was across the room at my table finishing taking attendance and UnicornGirl was sharing some tiny dolls during morning meeting. I heard her say it, but it didn’t register until…

“Aaahhhhh!”

I looked up and UnicornGirl had the tiny doll in her hand, squeezing it as her arm swung from left to right. As her arm moved, a steady stream of water hit everyone sitting in front of her. I got up, moving across the room to stop the water. But, she was ready. Before I could get there a second doll, a second stream of water, more screaming.

Surprisingly, not one child moved or complained. She did, after all, ask them first… “Who wants to get wet?”

Ring.  Ring.  Ring.

 

I saw Ja flash across the screen.  Why is she calling me?  What does she want?  She only calls when she wants something.

 

“Hello.” I answered.

 

“Guess what, Je?!?!”

 

“What?”  I was surprised at her excited tone.  What could it be?

 

“I finished Twilight already!”

 

“The book?  Didn’t you just start it the other day?”  That couldn’t be right.  She had barely finished a book in her life, let alone one for fun…and only in a few days!

 

“Yes. I couldn’t stop reading.  I was picturing Bella and Edward in my head as I was reading-  since I knew what they looked like from the trailers.”

 

“Wow…Wait, you didn’t usually see pictures in your head?  With other books?”

 

“No.”

 

That was the first time I truly realized that the reason I loved reading was the movie that was happening in my mind as I read.  Ja never had that before.  But because of the movie trailers out for Twilight, she saw the “mind movie” and she enjoyed reading.      Because of this realization, visualizing became a much more significant part of my reading instruction.

 

The book changed everything for Ja as a reader.    The book changed everything for me as a teacher.