Tears Dry On Their Own

It's funny, I was a lifeguard for six years or so and one of my favorite things to do (as well as all of the LCMP guards) was to yell at the children. Before you get all up in my face let me admit I was a meanie (some of you probably think I still am, but this is nothing, trust me). I didn't like kids, I really didn't like bad or negligent parents and I was definitely NOT afraid to yell at kids at the pool and watch them shed a few tears. This was the first thing I thought of today when I made a student cry. No I didn't yell at him, I wasn't mean and YES I DID feel terrible. He was working on his project of depicting earth, wind, fire & water and I suggested to him that he try and create something different than his teacher made on the board. To this he looked at me, pushed his paper away & promptly began to tear up. UGH. Not what I intended, I had no idea that was a sensitive subject for a 3rd grader. I sat down next to him and put my hand on his back and told him that I really liked what he had done and that I just thought we should talk about some other ideas, he wiped away the two tears on his cheek and we kept working, but it really made my heart melt for a second. As we worked along I drew with my table of kids and we talked about dog bites and bee stings and I loved every second of it. The 3rd grade class continually makes me laugh and I think that they may be my favorite, even though I'm probably not supposed to say that. These kids are just so great, they are so funny and make my getting up early to work with them totally worth it.

I also got to work some more on my lesson plan and it is really starting to shape up, I should be able to go with it in about 3 more class periods. I'll be sure and post up some picts of my sweet 3rd grade level painting and let you all know how it goes!