Back in the Classroom – A Good Start to Term Four

2013-10-05 | puppy1952

I can hardly take in that the final term is already upon us. And it is such a short and busy one too. All too soon I will be bidding my little princesses farewell as they shoot up to Grade Two!

They have come such a long way since that first exciting day and what a pleasure to see how ready they are for more advanced work. The plan is to have lots of fun with the Dr Seus stories and one of their first activities was to draw their favourite scene from The Grinch.

Drawing scenes from The Grinch

Starting new Maths Cards was a challenge that they rose to with enthusiasm. Some of those tasks were pretty tricky!

You can’t catch me out – I know all the answers

The girls could tell me all about email and the internet but some of them were not too sure what postage stamp was or how ‘snail mail’ actually worked. So we designed our own stamps and created post cards with street addresses on them which they thoroughly enjoyed!

Creating a beautiful post card

Of course their favourite subject is Information Technology and up until now they have been having lots of fun learning core skills while playing fun games. This week for the first time they learned how to browse the internet! Our upcoming outing will be to Rondevlei and the girls got to find the nature reserve’s webpage and researched what they were likely to see there!

I’m not too sure what to do right now

This is how to scroll through the images

Just a second – I’ll show you what to do

Birthdays are such huge events in a young lady’s life. At our school the children wear ‘civvies’ on their special day so that everyone knows to wish them. On Friday there was great excitement when one of the moms (who is also a teacher at the school) came in bearing a tray of cupcakes, lit up with candles.

The girls all broke into the birthday song

Just look at the delight on that face

After all that excitement the girls settled down to their tasks before we took a break to eat the delicious treats.

We are all looking forward to a happy, hard-working last term. It promises to be filled with plenty of new and fun experiences.

Back in the Classroom – ANAs and the End of a Busy Term

2013-09-14 | puppy1952

This is my last “Back in the Classroom” post for this term and I will make it brief. As usual it has been a busy week but the big event was the ANAs – Annual National Assessments. Every child in the country sits this assessment at the same time on the same day. Literacy was on Tuesday and Numeracy on Thursday. There are strict rules governing how the test is administered. In Grade 1 the class teacher is allowed to invigilate and read the paper to her own children. This is a relief as the little ones feel quite insecure in this type of situation. This is because we never assess our children in this way. It is very formal and our way of teaching and testing is far more relaxed in the Foundation Phase.

The children are used to sitting in cooperative groups but for the ANAs they had to sit alphabetically in rows. Of course anything new is very exciting and the new arrangement got the girls completely hyped up. Fortunately we practised a few times before sitting the real thing!

Back to the dark ages in neat straight rows

Back to the ‘olden days’ in neat, straight rows

The two tests were in fact not difficult and most of the girls did well. But the results really make no difference to their overall marks – they are merely an indication to the Powers That Be that the children are reaching a basic standard for their grade. Are the schools achieving what they are meant to achieve? So the girls should do well. Sometimes children who get good results when assessed by their teacher do poorly in an ANA – these are the children who don’t function well in formal test situations although they are perfectly capable. The wording of the questions can be confusing, they’re used to working cooperatively but now they’re expected to act like Matric Students. They’re not allowed to talk and they have to wait until everyone has finished a question before moving on which causes a break in concentration.

But it is a good experience and I am proud of my girls. They performed well but at the end of it they said they were jolly glad it was over!

Next week we will wind down with some fun activities and preparations for the final term. Covers will be made and books sent home for covering in plastic. Parents please be prompt in returning them to school. I look forward to chatting to you all at Parentline on Tuesday.

Back in the Classroom – Reading to Children

2013-09-07 | puppy1952

“Whose mommies and daddies read to you, everynight before bed?” I asked my girls . A sprinkling of hands went up. “Whose mommies and daddies read to you before you started Grade 1.'” Just a few more hands went up. I noticed that most of the girls who were still being read to, were good readers themselves. Those who never had stories read to them were making slower progress.

The mistake that many parents make is – Now that my child is reading – I needn’t read to her any more. She must read on her own – she needs to practise.

We talk to our babies before they can understand the words we say – and very soon they’re talking too. It’s the same with reading – first we read because they can’t read themselves but we must continue. Read books to your children that have a more advanced vocabulary and watch how their use of language improves. There are many advantages of reading to your child.

It’s a wonderful way to get your child into bed and settled for the night.
It’s a special togetherness time – sit close to your child and let her see the words and pictures as you read.
Your child will be hearing well-written English which will contribute to her gaining good language skills.
You can use the story for life lessons and discussions.
Books, both fiction and nonfiction, teach general knowledge.
New worlds are opened for you both to share.

Let reading to your child become part of her bedtime routine. Make sure radios and television are off when you read to your child and make it a special time – do not let any digital devices interfere with this time. Put your phone on silent!

What should we be reading to our children? Take them to the library and show them the array of books in the children’s section and let them choose! Some children really love nonfiction so don’t neglect that. Let them browse through a nonfiction book and let it be more of a question and answer session rather than reading it from cover to cover.

There are many modern children’s authors writing wonderful stories with fantastic illustrations but don’t forget the old fashioned fairy tales. The girls in my class love The Three Little Pigs and Cinderella as much as the children who I taught from past generations did. Alice in Wonderland, Peter Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh – just never go out of style.

Here is my very short suggestion list – there are so many books out there but in my book these are compulsory reading.

AA Milne –Winnie the Pooh

Beatrix Potter – Peter Rabbit + all her other books

Kenneth Graham – The Wind in the Willow

The Brothers Grimm – All their fairy tales

Lewis Carroll – Through the Looking Glass

Ludwig Bemelmans – Madeline

Rudyard Kipling – The Just So Stories

Enid Blyton – The Wishing Chair and The Faraway Tree

I read to my girls at school as often as possible. I read stories that we as Grade One teachers have decided on together as well as books the girls bring that they want to share. We all enjoy the stories. But this is not a substitute for Mom and Dad reading to a child. There is not the same intimacy, bonding and sharing. Start the habit now. If time runs out – leave the homework – Read to your child!

Back in the Classroom – Fun with Music and a visit to Kirstenbosch

2013-08-30 | puppy1952

The lucky little girls in my class got to have another fun lesson with a GAP student this week. When I was a little girl the theoretical part of Music was boring and no fun at all. What a fresh approach this lovely young treacher brought to our classroom. The girls now know all about walking notes, running notes and slow plodding notes. They had fun tapping out the beat on rhythm sticks and then listening to differents types of music and interpreting the movement through dance.

An introduction to musical notes

Using rhythm sticks while reading music

Interpreting the music with dance

Winter is determined to show us its coldest face this year. I am sure there can’t be any more rain left to fall and can it possibly get any colder. Rumour has it that there is snow on Table Mountain! I can’t see it from here but I can certainly feel it in my bones. Yet I have tough little girls who strip off their fleeces after break and insist on running around bare foot!. My girls are princesses but very sporty ones!

100% chance of rain was predicted for the day of our outing to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The other two Grade One classes went the day before and certainly did get a constant downpour. The Botanical Gardens in the rain? Well yes – but not outdoors and even though it did not actually rain our our day we were presented with the same programme. It was just too cold and muddy to go tramping through the Gardens and the Forest area that they usually show us.

Instead the boys and girls had their lessons and walk about in the conservatory. The three wonderful ladies who were our teacher/guides taught them how the indigenous people and early settlers found veld plants and used them food, medicine and freshening their homes. They were fascinated to hear that Buchu was used for healing scratches and stings and that there were several types of aromatic Pelargonium which could be used to flavour food or used to freshen clothes in the wardrobe. The children shared their knowledge of ‘sour flowers’ and were warned not to eat anything in the veld unless an adult told them it was safe to do so.

The puppet show about Monty the Mongoose was a definite highlight and after that they were divided into three groups and shown around the conservatory.

The Puppet Show

Feeling fleshy leaves

Checking off the plants they found

It was a fantastic outing and the children learned so many new things in a fun and exciting way. Well done to the Kirstenbosch Ladies – in spite of the weather they got it just right!

Back in the Classroom – Foul Weather, Food Pyramids and Fun in Afrikaans

2013-08-24 | puppy1952

This has to be the coldest and wettest winter we have had here in the Cape for many years. Or is it that I am getting older and feel the elements more intensely? Here in this southern nook of Africa we are lucky enough to have a Mediterranean Climate – warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. I like winter because many of the days are clear and sunny and the wind doesn’t blow. But this winter we have had so much rain that the dams are over 100% full and there is snow on the mountain which means it is freezing! After a couple of days of heavy rain there was river flowing outside my classroom door!

A River Runs Through It

Every day I pray that the rain will let up at 10:30 – break time – so that the children get to go out and release their pent up energy – mostly my prayers are answered and luckily inspite of the excessive rain we do find at least a few minutes to get out and play.

A break in the weather and fun on the swings

Something in the weather has caused the birds to visit the garden – when the children are not around. I captured these feathered beauties enjoying some rare sunshine.

Cape Canary

Chaffinch

It has been a busy week and the girls have worked hard. After their two day Funscape they were keen to share their experiences and wrote good sentences about what they had done.

Look what I did at Fabric Painting

Pieces of Eight My Hearties

Anyone for cookies?

Working on our Funscape Report

Having someone different in the classroom is always exciting for the girls and I have been so proud of their welcoming attitude to our visiting student and one of our own GAPs. What a fun lesson they had learning all about the food pyramid and which foods we need for energy, muscle building and fighting illness.

Carbohydrates for energy

Learning a second language can be challenging but doing a familiar movement song in Afrikaans makes learning the parts of the body fun and easy.

Kop en skoures, knie en tone, knie en tone

Neus?

They also learned an old favourite fairy tale in their second language – the same one we have been working on in our regular Afrikaans lessons.

“We know this story,” piped up one bright spark – “but we don’t do it like this!”

I am proud to say that in spite of that they remembered the vocabulary and thoroughly enjoyed the new presentation of an old favourite.

‘n Mandjie vol Kos

Sy pluk blomme

Die Wolf in Ouma se Klere

Another full week has flown by. Assessments are complete and report writing has begun. The rain has gone for now so enjoy your weekend everybody.

Back in the Classroom – Market Day and a Fun Music Lesson

2013-08-09 | puppy1952

As usual time has flown and this short week has been filled with activity, fun and excitement. My carefully planned Monday had to be adjusted when the girls’ favourite teacher (IT bloke of course) came to inform us that we were to have an unscheduled period on the ipads. This on the same day that we have Visual Motor so that set the tone for the day! However, the little geniuses applied themselves diligently so as not to be excluded from the I.T. lesson if certain goals were not reached! Always great to have a carrot to help with discipline.

I have for a few days been assigned a visiting student teacher. She is studying through UNISA and needs to do her practical so I am the lucky one. Her first lesson had the children clapping, clicking and, dancing and singing as they learned to recognise patterns in Music.

Old Mac Donald

Singing, Clapping and Clicking

I am the kind of teacher who believes that junk food is very bad for children. That does not mean that I never indulge in the odd pizza or chocolate. I also use sweeties as treats on occasion. BUT – my rule is that no junk may come to school in lunch boxes – and don’t dare buy lollipops from the school tuckshop! The girls know this and try their best to bring healthy snacks to school. So when The Grade Seven Market Day happened on Wednesday they couldn’t believe their luck when Teacher said – you can buy and eat whatever you like!

The lessons learned went above my food fetishes. At the entrance to the hall – (rain prevented and outdoor market) R1 tickets were sold and with these they could make their purchases. It was amazing to see the little ones work out what they could afford and carefully make their choices for the best bargains on sale. It was also delightful to see the Grade 7s gently being patient with them and helping them to count out their tickets and what they could spend.

These look good

Are you sure I’m allowed to buy these?

How do I look?

We’re all going on a sugar high

Look what we’ve got

All stocked up with treasure

How can I help you Angel?

Coloured hair in Uniform!

I was very proud of my girls when after all this excitement, they settled down well with their Xhosa teacher and impressed him so much that he gave each one a star!

The weather in Cape Town has been that preferred by ducks and chilly on top of it. So it was great to see a tiny bit of luke-warm sunshine on Thursday. The only interruption to our day was a full practice for our upcoming assembly. Moms and Dads you are in for a treat on Tuesday morning. Be seated by 8:15 sharp when your little stars will be sharing with you all they have learned about caring for Pets. Hard work followed and we achieved most of what we set out to do at the beginning of this busy week and then we burst out to greet the long weekend and celebrate being free and liberated women and girls.

For my overseas readers this is why we celebrate National Women’s Day in South Africa. On 9 August 1956, more than 50,000 women staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria. They were protesting against the Urban Areas Act or “Pass Laws” of 1950. Petitions containing more than 100 000 signatures were left the Prime Minister, J.G. Strijdom’s office doors. Outside they stood silently for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs. They sang a song which translated means – you touch a woman you touch a rock. That phrase now paraphrased to “You strike a woman, you strike a rock” has come to represent women’s courage and strength in South Africa.

Because of our mothers’, grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers’ strength and courage in all kinds of human rights protests, we as women and girls have a better life. And I think that so do our boys and men. And as we celebrate this Women’s Day weekend let us not forget the support and affirmation we receive from our wonderful fathers, brothers, sons, husbands and male colleagues. Have a great weekend everybody!

Back in the Classroom – Pets and Plays

2013-08-03 | puppy1952

Another very busy week has come and gone with the highlight for the girls being “Hoofies” on Wednesday followed by a show in the hall – George’s Marvellous Medicine, which was very well presented by The South African Theatre for Youth.

Mixing the Marvellous Medicine

Totally absorbed in the show

Grandma’s Gum Gum Style

The girls thoroughly enjoyed the show but there was also the 3 Rs to learn and they have excelled themselves this week and impressed their teacher with their mastery of doubling and halving, odd and even numbers, writing in feint lines and story creation.

Our theme this term is Pets. And what a popular topic that is for small children. I have a class full of animal lovers and they are all keen to tell me all about their pets at home. We have learned about the different types of pets one can keep – snakes, lizards, birds, mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters and the more conventional cat or dog! I have tried to impress upon my girls that exotic pets are all very well if you have a licence to keep them. They understand that not just anybody can keep a monkey or a lion. They need to have a special reason to keep an animal like that in captivity – for educational, research or conservation reasons.

We have had great discussions on the fun we have with our pets, how much they mean to us and the responsibilities we have towards them. Here is what some of the girls said about their pets.

“I have a pet hamster and I love him because he crawls up my sleeve and tickles me.”

I have a two cats – one is scared and one is not. One sleeps on my bed because he likes my blanky!

My pet fish’s name is “Sushi” (Does that not sound ominous?!)

My puppy took my slipper out of my cupboard!

I love my dogs because they are clumsy!

My puppy is really naughty and very funny because she chews my shoes.

I love my dog but I don’t like picking up his poop!

My mom does not like the hair all over the house.

From their comments on pets it was clear that the girls knew about the pros and cons of pet ownership. There was a lively discussion on this before they drew and wrote about what they liked and didn’t like about owning a pet.

The children took recipes for play dough home and most of them brought the final product to school while one or two others brought the bought version and we had fun modelling animals on Friday after break! I was super impressed but their creativity.

The little fingers getting into it

The joy of creating with my own hands

Look at lovely pets

A family of snakes!

Look what I made

I am getting into this

Do you like my cat?

This is right up my street

Can we do this every day?

We do manage to pack a lot into a week and not only do these very young girls work hard at school, they are super keen on their sport too. My little hockey players were beside themselves when they got to play their first match on Thursday. Well done girls – I know you played well even though the other team were not “blown up” for faults you know they made!

See you all on Monday!

Back in the Classroom – Creative Expo Day and an Ignition Outing to The Navy

2013-07-26 | puppy1952

We are really back in the swing of things at my very active school. Looking back I have a feeling of satisfaction that so much has been accomplished because I never believe there’s enough time! The week started with a long ‘to do’ list and two big events to get through. In spite of this we managed to complete all the work planned, fit in an assembly practice and survive the ‘big events’

On Thursday we had our Creative Expo Day. Visitors shopping for the best school for their youngsters popped into our classrooms to see what sort of creative things we did with the children. The Grade Ones have learned all about 2D and 3D shapes and so we decided to do something creative around this. After viewing a PowerPoint presentation on shapes and where we see them in everyday life the children designed a model and then used toothpicks and Jelly Tots to construct a 3D building. What fun the girls had and how impressive their models turned out to be. Girl brains do not get the engineering thing quite as easily as boy brains but most of my princesses managed beautifully. There were one or two who insisted on making pretty shapes in 2D but that’s okay – they’ll get the 3D thing eventually

I wonder how I should design this thing

Totally absorbed in the task

I’ve done it

We joined ours together!

This morning there was great excitement as it was Outing Day! Everybody arrived with packed lunch ready and after reading and handwriting we set off to Simonstown. We call this kind of outing an Ignition Outing the idea being to ignite the children with an idea of what kind of career they might like to enter when they grow up. The naval officer who was our guide told me that he was inspired to join the navy at a young age when he went on a similar class outing. We joined our brother class on this outing and it was clear that it was a big hit with the boys. The girls, however, were also asking questions and thoroughly enjoying the experience although not quite so excited by torpedoes that killed the enemy.

Listening intently to all this new information

Looking at a Battle Ship

May I ring the Captain’s Bell? No!

It would be fun to be a Navy Diver

The children were allowed to explore the Naval Museum, saw a short video on how a helicopters are used for rescue and got to learn about a variety of things you could work at in the Navy. Our handsome young naval guide was brilliant with the children and they all went home with a good insight of what the Navy was about. Thanks to the Moms and Dads who gave up their valuable time to transport us there and back. We really appreciate it.

Back in the Classroom – Third Term, Mandela Day and Creative Kids

2013-07-22 | puppy1952

Although I had enjoyed a stunning three weeks abroad on my own I couldn’t wait to get home to my husband and family. The plan was to land in Cape Town at lunch time on Saturday giving me a day and an half to prepare myself for school. But that didn’t happen did it! Because my grandson was to have a birthday party that night my amazing husband decided to whisk me away for a Romantic Reunion and save me from the invasion of a dozen teenagers!

The following morning we went to see my daughter in her new flat and then to lunch with friends! The last thing on my mind on Sunday evening then was school! Isn’t it amazing thought that when you’ve been doing this job forever you just walk straight in and it is as if you haven’t been away. The only thing I forgot was to bring back the freshly washed chairbags! “You see girls,” I said. “You should never be in a muddle on your first day of school. You should get everything ready the night before!” They all agreed but were very forgiving nevertheless. Within five minutes we were back into the swing of things. The girls clearly had a great holiday and were ready for action. They were excited to begin writing in feint lines and I am proud of how well they are coping. We also began our sum cards which are not very easy to set out, Moms and Dads and there were a few glitches about skipping a line and muddling plus and minus but it won’t be long before these little geniuses have that sorted too.

Mandela Day was the big event of the week. Sadly the day dawned rather cold and overcast and rain was imminent when we all went out to sit in formation on the netball court and sing to Madiba. The photograph of the children with a drawing of Mandela’s face is awesome. Go to the school’s webpage to see this. http://blogs.sunvalleygroup.co.za/

The Grade Ones were about to go and do their 67 minutes of community service and we were ready and armed with our black bags for a litter clean up. One of my princesses piped up “We can’t go out in this weather. It’s too cold. I might get sick.” “No,” I replied, “We’re doing this for Madiba – we must be strong and brave!” “Yes,” replied another “We’re not that kind of princess!” We’re certainly not – we’re the hard-working kind! But the heavens opened and the rain came down so our 67 minutes had to be postponed after all! Even tough princesses could melt in the rain. Instead of the litter clean up and gave the girls a brief lesson on the life of Nelson Mandela and showed them a clip from the internet planning to stop it if it was beyond their understanding. But they were riveted and had many questions to ask. They were horrified to hear that apartheid meant segregated beaches, busses and classrooms. I also showed them a clip of Johnny Cleg dancing with Mandela and that got some of them up and dancing too.

On Friday we got stuck into a cooperative activity. The girls brought boxes of all shapes and sizes and designed a city. The idea was to build the kind of buildings they would see in their community. I was delighted to see how well they worked together and how creative they were with the limited materials they had.

Back in the Classroom – Writing, Creating and Prompting

2013-06-17 | puppy1952

The past week has been pretty hectic at school. The intermediate phase are in the throes of producing a their pantomime – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although my little Grade Ones are not involved, I am. So for four days last week I had to leave them in the capable hands of a GAP student while I was on duty as Prompt. But the shows began at 10 and I was back with the girls by 12:30. So far we have had 2 full dress rehearsals, 2 morning shows and 2 evening shows. There are two more evening shows to go so if you have not yet seen it don’t delay – it is really good.

The teaching of handwriting is very important in Grade 1. So many skills are required to form a simple letter. Posture must be right. The fine muscles in the hand, fingers and wrist need to work correctly. Spacial perception has to be developed and in the beginning it all takes a great deal of concentration which is why children with an attention deficit struggle to learn to write.

Now just when we have got used to how to form the letters and learned how to keep them on a line the goal posts have been moved. The new skill we must learn is to write between the lines and we are practising this on paper before we get our feint lined books!

This takes concentration

A good exercise to strengthen those three fingers required for neat writing – the thumb, pointer and middle is paper tearing. The girls got busy making a new book cover. They had to tear coloured papers into small pieces and paste them onto an outline of a fish.

This is fun

Its good for my ‘three writing friends’

I am working hard at this

Not so good for my back when I stand and bend over my desk when I work!

But the bending over a low desk is not so good for my back!

Do you like the results?

The 16th of June is Youth Day in South Africa and as it fell on a Sunday (also Father’s Day) we got Monday off. I hope all my little ones and their parents had a good weekend. I certainly did – got a lot of Third Term preparation done as well as enjoying a relaxing time with my husband and daughter.

The last four days of term are now upon us. Can you believe it – half way through the year already!

Back in the Classroom – Dictionaries, Story Writing, Skeletons and Reports

2013-06-02 | puppy1952

Another good week has raced by and the little girls are just progressing by leaps and bounds. I have been busy with lots of individual assessments and though I have been back in Grade 1 for two years now – I am still blown away by how rapidly they learn.

We are now up to bonds of seven in Mathematics and we once again played dancing digits to get the feel of how numbers are related. Playing games always makes learning fun and they enjoyed a plus and minus activity on the mat when their work was done.

Who can cover their blocks first

The girls were very excited when I handed out their very first dictionaries. They decorated the cover and took them home to be covered in plastic. Now they are beginning to write their own stories, finding words they need from around the classroom, in their reading, from the THRASS chart and also by asking the teacher. Their first creative assignment was to sequence four pictures in the correct order and then make up the story. Wow – did they have fun! One little lass could not stop at one sentence per picture and almost wrote a novel.

Now let me think

Deep concentration

It’s about a birthday, isn’t it.

Coming to ask for words

We are learning about our bodies and how they move. The girls had fun cutting out skeletons and pasting them in moving positions.

Concentrating on cutting out neatly

Mine is very flexible

This is cool

We have had a few rainy days recently so movement in the classroom has become more important than ever! Here are the girls doing Singing in the Rain – in the classroom while it was raining outdoors!

Singing in the rain

The weather has indeed turned chilly and wet here in the Western Cape, South Africa. Voices on the radio warned that the weekend would be beset with storms and flooding and very low temperatures. Friday afternoon, Hubby left for a business trip, the boys had Scouts so after feeding them pizzas I snuggled under the duvet with my laptop and spent the evening working on reports. By Saturday morning the storm had arrived and poor Josh played a hockey match and came home drenched. I remained under the duvet and by 2:30 I’d completed my reports – such a good feeling to be done!

Back in the Classroom – Assessing and Caring

2013-05-25 | puppy1952

It’s a short blog this week and sorry folks – no photos.

At the best of times my life runs at a hectic pace and I like it like that. It keeps me interested and stimulated and I am never bored. This past week, though, the pace was more hectic than ever with dentist appointments, visa applications, bank problems, an unexpected school meeting to attend, an extra sports duty to perform, a midweek and Saturday play rehearsal and the culmination of a Bird Club function that I organised. So I have to confess – I got a tad behind in my marking! I’d love to say that next week will be calmer – but somehow, I doubt that!

For those parents who are reading this – don’t worry – I still managed to teach your brilliant children and my marking is now up to date! Throughout the term we continuously teach and assess and next week we will begin our report writing. Some assessments have to be done one on one with Grade Ones and so the little girls have had to work quietly on their own while their teacher tried to get through individuals as quickly as possible. Sitting still too long is of course not easy when your’re six or seven so I have to remember to get them up and moving often! The minute the noise level rises – we get up, do a movement song or go for a walk, change the task and then settle down again. I am proud that the girls are coping and cooperating.

Even when there is a rushed week of goings on the little dramas of small girls cannot be ignored. On Thursday I greeted my girls with the usual indication of how each one was feeling on a scale of 1 to 4 and one of my most cheerful entered with a one and was in fact very tearful. Her best friend was tearful and before long several others were snivelling too. The problem – her doggy was sick and had to be put down. We had a care circle . Wow ! She shared so eloquently how she felt that I had tears in my eyes. I hugged and she sobbed. The other girls were silent and then as the teddy was passed around they all had words of comfort. “He won’t be sore any more”. ” He will be like a puppy in doggy heaven.” “My doggy died and I still miss him but I know he’s happy in doggy heaven.”

Afterwards the doggy-bereaved child said, “I also have some good news. My friend is having a sleep-over with me and Mom’s going to make popcorn. And I’m getting a new puppy to keep my other dog company!” And the tears were dried and she moved on. Aren’t kids great! We can learn so much from them.