It’s been a while since our last session, and I was looking forward to returning to Bret Harte this week. Ms. Harrison was waiting for me in the hallway with smiling eyes, and I met Ms. McKinney before finally being reunited with the 2nd Graders. I was so happy to see them again, I just had to walk around the classroom to look into the eyes of each student. “I missed you!” I said with feeling, but no one seemed surprised. “Well, why do you think I missed you?” I asked the class, to which they provided a list of the following reasons:
- “Because we’re your favorite class!”
- “Because you haven’t seen us in a long time!”
- “Because we’re smart!”
- “Because we’re fun!”
- “Because we listen!”
- “Because we’re kind!”
- “Because we are a team!”
Students’ hands were waving in the air like flags on a windy day when I asked what they remembered about our previous sessions together. Particularly, they remembered writing poems about dreams, wishes, sounds, and monsters. Some students hoped we could re-read poems such as Dennis Lee’s “I Eat Kids, Yum, Yum,” and “Honey, I Love” by Eloise Greenfield – but, unfortunately, I hadn’t brought those poems with me. At least 10 students wanted to read their Monster Poems aloud in front of the class and show off their illustrations, and so that’s what we did. Students expressed their support for each other by being good listeners and offering fingers-snaps, comments, and questions for their classmates after the reading of each poem. One student was eager to share some artwork she made, recently, and so I have included it, here. Thank you for decorating this blog post so beautifully, Andrea!
