SCHAENEN–January 16

It’s kind of a weird feeling coming back after this break, I have to admit. First, knowing Sally’s not there makes the room feel different. Also, knowing and having confirmed that Gundlach is scheduled to be closed at the end of this year has sort of put an added twist on the environment. I have heard that the teachers “saw the writing on the wall” back last spring when Gundlach was not on the list to get air conditioning installed. Alas. One of my 4th graders, holding my hand as we walked down from her class room to R4W, mentioned that her mom had gone to Gundlach…other kids were talking about where they might be destined to go – Ford, Lexington, Laclede. They asked me where I was going to go and I said I didn’t know. Very Anatevka!

In the classroom with the 4th grade, first hour, We immediately began talking about this change. Why, they wanted to know. I explained what I had heard, that enrollment wasn’t where it needed to be: not enough students in the building.

We went right into a “quick write,” which I introduced as a 5-minute stretch, or warm-up, to get the writing muscles prepared to write. A letter, a poem, a rap, an diary entry…anything at all.

SA wrote a letter to the principal asking about the closure. “Without it [Gundlach] I would not be the person I am now it’s like this school’s a part of me….Mrs. Jensen exactly how many kids do we need to keep this school from shutting down do we need a lot?”

DW wrote a continuation of his record of his experience at camp Sherwood Forest.

After the quick-write we talked about receiving gifts. I passed a sample of a reflection about receiving a gift—a bicycle from a father leaving for Korea, reading thanks to Sally from Richard Currey—and the children wrote about meaningful gifts they had received and the people from whom they received them.

MW: I received a gift from my granny and it was meaning[ful] to me because she is really old and when her time is up I can have something to remember her by because when my momma is at work she is always there for me. She is very important to me because her and my mother is always there by my side. My granny has raised a lot of us and even if she had bought me a pair of socks I would take it and cherish it for the rest of my life.

Second hour of fourth grade was the same lesson. We had a new boy come into the class, R, and he wrote a long and wonderful memory of his favorite day back in Oklahoma.

By ZJ: My mom gave me a bracelet and it is pink. It mean everything to me and if someone take it I will get mad. I keep it in my jewelry box.

By RB: Yes! The person was importan that person was my grandmother when she passed away I was very sad but one thing she left behind was a special thing of hers and it was a ring and I took it to remember her by and it is special thing to me and I still have it. Also, my grandmother was married. And she was married when she was 27 years old.

With second grade:

We played a poem game. I gave them a word, EGG, and then they played word associations with it to create a longer piece that eventually circled back to the word EGG. “Just let the words bubble up,” I said, words or phrases. We also did a few other words: SLEEP and BOX.

Egg, by DT

Egg
I will make a egg then I will eat it. Why do they call it egg?
Scramble eggs and bacon
Egg sandwich
Egg nog
Egg with good stuff
Egg yoke
Egg baked
Boil egg
Smooth and white
Good and butter
Yummy
Hen
Bird
Egg

Egg, by TW

Me and my sister come out a egg from my mom stomach
I ate egg for breakfast
I saw an egg come out a chicken
I saw an egg crack open and baby chick came out
I ate scramble egg for breakfast
I saw a fish lay a egg
I saw many animal lay egg
Sometime egg for dinner
I can eat egg any time
Birds lay eggs
Lots of animals lay egg
Egg

Sleep, by KH

It’s good for you
Snore
Resting
A Nap
Catnap
Sleepyhead
Tired
Bed
Crib
Lullaby
Singing
Bednight story
Star dream
Sleep

With third grade we wrote letters. I handed out envelopes and invited them to write to anyone they felt like writing to. Again, this was just a warm-up after our long separation from winterbreak. This class is always hard to settle down, but once they get their heads into it, they produce lovely work. I stressed the importance of being able to share thoughts, feelings (good and bad ones) in writing with people we may or may not see very often.

KP

Dear Mom,
I love you very much and I am so happy the wonderful things you did for me. You did a lot of good things for me to. And you also get me whatever I want. And don’t forget I love you very, very, very much.

I am looking forward to this semester…hoping to set certain practices in place that might keep these kids hooked on writing wherever they end up next year.

Inda