A Thank You Note

Dear Mr. Roberts,

Fack you.

Love,
Karissa

Mrs. Jones

It's been a while since I've written, and a few things have changed.

My adventures are no longer in Kindergarten. Now I teach first grade. I'm also not Miss Terrill anymore. I got married this summer and now I'm Mrs. Jones.

My students remind me of my new name when I accidentally refer to myself as Miss Terrill. Zack even told me I have a song. "It's called Me and Mrs. Jones, want to hear it Mrs. Jones?"

Of course I do!

So he proceeded to sing:

"Me and Mrs. Jones...Mrs. Jones...Mrs. Jones...
We've got a thing goin' on
She is my teacher
And I love her..."

"I made up the last party myself, Mrs. Jones!"

Thank you, Zack.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

This might be my favorite question to ask children. Their dreamy, unrealistic plans make me smile and inspire me.

Here are some responses I've gotten...

"an astronaut"

"a policeman"

"a skunk"

"a doctor"

"a mommy"

"a captain and a chef"

"a table seller"

"a horse doctor"


But today, I asked the question, and Giovanni's answer knocked my socks off! "Giovanni, what do you want to be when you grow up?" "Well, I pretty much want to be myself."

Oh. Yeah. It's not about doing. Our job title doesn't define us. It's about being. Being yourself.

Fables

Today the seventh graders came to our class to read some Fables and write stories. Two very wonderful things happened.

Mrs. Lewis (7th grade teacher) and I began to partner off the students: one seventh grader with each kindergartener. I told Mrs. Lewis that David is an English Language Learner whose first language is Russian, and would probably need another kindergarten partner to help him write his story. Mrs. Lewis told me that she has a girl in her class who is also an English Language Learner whose first language is Korean. This girl was terrified to read her fable. She was so nervous that her partner wouldn't be able to understand her story, or would think that she was dumb. David was a perfect fit. It was so sweet to watch them read and write together in broken English. Neither one could probably understand the other very well, but neither one cared. They knew first hand what the other had gone through this year: learning a new language in a new school. They smiled at each other and communicated more than words ever could.

Mrs. Lewis also has a student with autism. He has an aide who writes everything for him. He ended up being partnered with Luke. Luke's classmates describe him as "very quiet and very smart". Luke hardly ever speaks. Even when he is called on, it takes him a while to say something. I wondered how he was going to dictate a story. The boys went into the hallway to read and write their story. Ten minutes later, Mrs. Lewis came up to me with a look of surprise on her face. She was holding the story the boys had just written: Half a page about a little monkey named banana-lover who chases off a mean gorilla. She told me that she had never seen her student write that much on his own. I told her I had never heard Luke say so many words. I'm not exactly sure how they did it, but those boys were a perfect fit for each other.

This makes my heart smile

Sydney asks: Miss Terrill, can I tell you four things?

Yes, Sydney.

Okay, #1 I love horses.
# 2 I love unicorns.
# 3 I had a really good dream last night.
and #4 I love being at school.

Who will save the day?

My class wrote a story:

(If you are in kindergarten, this is the most exciting part of the story because you have never been on a school bus before).

But no story is complete without some conflict...

And the very exciting and terrifying climax...

Now there was some debate as to who was going to save the day.

We took a vote.

These were the results:

David's Dad-1

Miss Terrill -2

Mr. Jones-3

Ethan's Dog-3

God-5

I feel a bit slighted that I lost to Mr. Jones and Ethan's dog.

But I think God was most qualified to save the day.

A good resolution.

Questions for God

Writing prompt: What is your question for God?

Giovanni wanted to ask God when it was Monday. Why? He was going to his grandma's house on Monday, but wasn't quite sure when Monday would come along. I clarified that we should ask God a question that only he knows the answer to. He changed his question to, "Jesus, what r santos Wrkers name" (Translation: Jesus, What are Santa's worker's names? I decided to leave the theology of this question alone).

Other questions included:

How did God made the mon?

Where dus God Get his Powrs?

Where Duz God liV?

and my favorite...


? Hoo Poot the Glitr on the snO?



P.S. We don't do spelling tests in kindergarten :)