I Love You, Lony - 05/17/19

It was my last day helping in classrooms today at AEMS. I got lots and lots of sweet letters from students from both first and third grade. I am going to miss these kiddos more than you even know. Being in first and third grade, a lot of students are still sounding out their words letter by letter to spell, so you can imagine that "Lauren" might not always turn out as planned. I got a range of spellings, and it was funny that they were kind of bragging to each other how they spelled my name incorrectly. One would come up and say "I spelled it L-O-R-I-N" and then another would say "I spelled it L-O-R-E-N" and then the last girl strutted up to me, put the letter down in front of me, and pointed at each letter as she said "I spelled it L-O-N-Y." I have always spelled it L-A-U-R-E-N, but props to them for exercising their artistic intention. In all seriousness though, the letters all meant so much to me, and I'm so lucky to have crossed paths with such incredible little people.

Here are a few of the highlights from the letters I got:

"I hope you mac it out of high school" I hope so too.

I started my morning a little earlier to teach Mandarin to my three 4th grade students. I met up with Andrew outside second grade where he was helping, and I got to see all the second graders again, which was fun. I've been seeing a few of them in gymnastics, but I was glad that they all still recognized me and were excited to see me. A few of them chirped "that's my gymnastics teacher!" and gave me hugs. Being called a "teacher" made me feel a certain kind of way, but as always, it was a good certain kind of way. In Mandarin, we finished up the books we started 2 weeks ago (last week was share day), which I felt like was a good place to end. Having only 2 half hour sessions, I felt good about how much we covered and how much they retained. They are able to introduce themselves and have a short, but full conversation. They're a quieter group than others I've had, but Andrew and I got them laughing, which is always a plus.

This morning in third grade, the students were partnered up to work on math worksheets. There was a series of word problems, followed by a page full of multiplication facts. It definitely felt much more relaxed in the classroom now that their testing is over. Once they finished those, Mr Hubbard and I checked the answers and they moved onto xtramath and prodigy, which are both online math activities/games. A bunch of students came at sat around me and we worked through the online math problems together. They always want me to just tell them the answer, but I am getting much better at saying "no" and instead prodding them with questions so they figure out each step. I feel like it's important that they realize and know that they have the skills to do the problem, it's just a matter of figuring out how and where to apply the skills. In third grade in the afternoon, they were working on STEM activities where they were partnered up to build structures out of 3 pieces of paper and 10cm of tape. The goal was to build as tall a structure as possible, and I was the designated measurer. With 3 pieces of paper and a minuscule amount of tape, I was extremely impressed that they were able to build up to 125cm! They have such bright little minds. We took both proper and silly photos at the end of the day. If you look at the photo, I blend right in with the third graders. My third grade self is still alive and well, both visually and mentally.

In first grade, they started with indoor recess because it was too wet outside to go out earlier. They did a lot of drawings that they gave to Anna and I, and we also read books and played with legos. Mr Wiley also showed them the video that I edited last night from what Anna and I filmed yesterday. He showed them the proper video, not the blooper one, and they still found that really funny. Anna and I were worried that the blooper video might make some people upset, so we decided to save that for adults and teachers. Mr Wiley watched a bit of it until the kids came back from lunch and thought it was really funny. Anna and I have been laughing about it since I sent it to her yesterday, and we have probably watched it a dozen times each. It is a must-see, 5 star blooper reel. After recess, we were continuing the dragon stories and drawings that they started yesterday. I got to help color, everything from pot-of-gold spitting dragons to dragons hiding in the refrigerator. There is really no limit to where a first graders imagination will take them. It's kind of a magical thing.

At the end of the day, I walked Audrey and Kaitlyn back to Proctor. It's kind of silly, but I really like walking them back from school, because it's a short little time where we just get to chat and hangout outside. Hanging out in our casual class settings is also super rewarding, but there's just something about that "walk from school" that gives me a lot of joy. Maybe it was when she took my hand as we crossed the road, or maybe it was watching them skip as we walked along the grass, I don't know. Something small that was really special to me was that as we were walking, we saw lots of little blue specks lining the floor, and when Audrey asked me what they were, I told her they were tiny little planets with little people living on them, and that earth is just like one of those tiny blue specks on another bigger planet. I told her that some other, giant third grader was also walking along the path noticing the blue specks on the ground that earth is among. Then we started talking about life on the tiny planets. Then she started jumping on them. I guess that's one way to acknowledge the little lives on the little planets.

In Mandarin, we did the stained glass. Paige chose strength, Grace chose love, Audrey chose dream, and Talia chose integrity. I would say that they matched with their personalities perfectly, but I think any and all of them would match all of their personalities perfectly. I really do adore these kids. Teaching Mandarin is definitely one of the things that I will miss most, and though we only went for a couple of weeks in the Spring, it has been such a great couple of weeks and is always something I look forward to. I left them secret notes in the backs of their picture frames. Audrey found hers and thanked me for it, but the others haven't opened theirs up yet. And who knows? Maybe they won't open it up for another 20 years, but that's okay.



One of the things I love about working with kids is when I get to talk to the parents. They are all so sweet and encouraging to me, which makes me love what I do even more. I'm learning a lot from them too. I went to the Proctor play tonight and was hanging out with/watching various kids through the school day, through Mandarin, through dinner, the art show, the play, and even after the play. They're sweet. I'm lucky. That's all.

Time: 10:43
Hours: 10
Total Hours: 139