A Tuesday Smile

There are days when teaching energetic 8- and 9-year old students is a challenge; there are times when it is most definitely enjoyable.On Tuesdays, our Morning Meeting is somewhat abbreviated. The students begin the day with a 10-minute grab and go breakfast followed by Art Class while I am meeting with my grade level team. We facilitate the need to start our day with a welcome by doing a "one minute" greeting - a chance to walk around the meeting area and shake a classmate's hand. I noticed today how wonderfully the students looked each other - and me - in the eye and said "Good Morning!". Definitely a great way to start the day! How awesome it was to notice the students who for a variety of reasons previously had been unable to look a classmate or me in the eye. To be able to do so  now, along with a firm handshake, well that's growth that no test will ever measure.A bit later in the Morning Meeting, I allow 2-3 students to share something with their peers. Today, one of my quiet kids signed up. When it was his turn, he reached behind his back for a cardboard box liner - pink velveteen if I recall correctly - with about a one-inch hole right in the middle."What now," I wondered silently.Presto! To our delight, he inserted his finger through the hole in the box liner and with a sly smile said "I found this box in my sister's car so I faked my Mom out. I told her I found this finger in a box." Believe me when I tell you this is primo third grade humor - the kids could hardly contain themselves and the thought that a Mom had been fooled. Well, that was the the BEST!I imagine that as we speak, there are 17 children scouring their homes for a box just like the one that was shared today. And probably there's a rash of finger-in-the-box fake-outs as well.