Sharing

All the fourth graders in our school had to write a response to literature for their third trimester writing assessment. We have practiced expressing our opinion and backing it up with evidence from the story over and over and their actually getting pretty good at it. I decided to use The Poky Little Puppy, one of my favorite stories as a child, for the actual exam.


The kids were excited when I told them I was going to read a story that was an important part of my past. I told them how I used to read it over and over again and how I liked it so much that my Daddy even wrote me a song to go along with it. This really intrigued them and since I received a recording of that very same song not too long ago, I said I would share that as well.

I am not even sure how the kids reacted to the song while it was playing, because I was sucked into a time warp. I stood there listening to my Daddy's voice sing a song that meant so much to me and I had tears in my eyes. When it finished, I looked at the kids and said, "I used to really love listening to my Daddy play guitar. Listening to this song makes me miss him alot." My students, most of whom have been separated from their Daddies for a time by divorce, military deployment, or even death, understood what I meant.

Before I dismissed them for the day they got me to promise I would bring in some pictures of myself when I was little. I agreed to do it, even though all those pictures are packed and it will mean digging through boxes, because I love sharing these things with them. In fact, I'm thinking I will ask them to bring in pictures of themselves when they were younger, perhaps doing something special with someone they love.