Back to School

Today I got to spend the day with 13 Grade 2's.  Wow!  We learned a lot!  We learned that composer Edvard Grieg, who wrote a song called "Butterfly" that we listened to, is a dead ringer for Albert Einstein.  We learned what "lukewarm" means, neither hot nor cold, and how we should not be lukewarm Christians, but be on fire for God.  Yes, that's right, God.  You see, the school that I taught at today, Brantford Christian School, allows its teachers to talk about God and Jesus, without having to look over their shoulders.  In fact, we even prayed together, sometimes led by me, sometimes by a student, offering our prayers of thanks and supplication (one of the grade 2's used that term) to God.  We also learned about how to borrow tens from the ones column and ones from the tens column -- it must be the "new math" because I don't remember doing that when I was a student.  We read The Berenstain Bears Go to the Moon and one of the students explained to us that there is no oxygen on the moon.  The students wrote their own moon stories; some let their imaginations run wild.  We coloured beautiful drawings of underwater scenes full of puffinfish and eels and sharks swimming amongst the coral reefs and seaweed and rocks and then painted the drawing with streaks of green and blue tempera.  We played Dr. Dodgeball in the gym; I found out that short arms can throw a ball a long way.  We found out that humans and cats and pigs are verterbrates (with a backbone) and that worms and clams and starfish are invertebrates (without a backbone).  We also paid a visit to the library where we browsed amongst the school's 13,000 plus books.  The volunteers have the library running like a well-oiled machine.  We even had time for Show & Tell, something every generation of kids seems to love.

It's nice to be back in the classroom again after a couple of years.  I miss writing on the blackboard.  I miss calendar time.  I miss reading stories.  I miss singing songs.  I miss the bell ringing.  I miss the apple for the teacher (or bouquet of dandelions).  I miss the students' hunger for learning.  I miss the teachable moments, the ones that you don't predict that pop up in the middle of a lesson (or at lunchtime or in gym class).  I miss the smiles and hugs.  I miss walking with a couple of students at recess.  I miss being called "Mrs. Jonasson".  Thank you, Grade 2's, for a wonderful day!  It's good to be back!!! 

Photo courtesy www.litelines.com.