Red's Story

Back to work tomorrow for me.  I do sense a bit of jealousy from those around me when I am at the beginning or end of one of my vacations from school.  "You lucky b*, you get the whole week off!"  "Oh, you had the whoooole week off and you have to go back to work on Tuesday. Boo Hoo!"  I know, I know, school vacations are a perk, BUT so
are the comedic happenings in the classroom.  Kids say the darndest things!

To get myself pumped up to head back in tomorrow....I will leave you with a quick post.  A story from my pre-k classroom my second year of teaching.

This story stars one of my students, we will call him Red.  Picture a boy, really one of those ALL-boy kind of boys, with a mop of rust-colored hair on his head and a spray of freckles covering his cheeks and nose.  A friend's mother once said, "A face without freckles, is like a night without stars."  In that case, Red's face was like a country night in the Creek.  He often wore jeans that were faded at the knee and stopped an inch or so above is untied sneakers.

Red, with all his freckles, sat at a round table in the classroom with two other little boys in my class.  They had just arrived at school, so the brains were buzzing, hands were busy, and conversation was high.  It was a spring day and, as the school year came to a close, "the big school" was a favored topic of conversation. 

As I took a seat in a child-sized chair at Red's table, its highest point hitting my knee, I realized the chatter happening between these boys had ventured even futher into the future than "the big school."  One of the boys said with pride, when I graduate I'm gonna go to college."  Another boy nodded his head at this idea and they both looked to me for approval.  I nodded along and continued listening, unlike me, but so glad I did.  This is when Red spoke up.  Red had a different plan in mind.  He was not going to college.

Wide eyes.  Loud voice.  Nose scrunched.  Red-head tilted.
Red said,
"When I graduate, I'm going to Kindergarten!!!"

<3-Sarah