Table of Contents #sol21
March 24, 2021
They are strewn all across my desks, scraps of paper with pieces of the table of contents.
Apparently, I’m going to learn a lot about slime… and a seven year old stuff bear named Crunchy.
Do you know how he got the name Crunchy? There seems to have been a terrible incident involving coffee. Prior to that his stuffiness was soft and fluffy, but after… crunchy.
Also, there is slime with sparkles in it, unicorn slime. Perhaps you didn’t know that… Did you know that, Mrs. Kennedy?
No, sweetest of hearts, I didn’t know that you could buy a slime making kit and that unicorn slime was your favorite, but I want to.
I want to see you in your pink chair and your scrunched face, your new erasers you got for your birthday. I want to capture these minutes and put them in a jar like fireflies blinking on and off, on and off. But I can’t hold on to them anymore than those fireflies. They are fleeting and so very precious.
So teach me some more about eagles and penguins, Crunchy and Snoopy, having a little brother, doing crafts, and gymnastics. I want to learn it all.
I see you learning too. You can write Crunchy without a bit of assistance. You know all the ways to keep yourself writing. I talk less and less and you dazzle me more and more.
There’s always another chapter as it should be.
I don’t tell you that in a few days you’ll move on from these moments writing with me. You’ll snuggle in with your classmates and get to writing every day just like you are right now.
And I… I will miss these moments. I’ll wonder what you are writing about on a Wednesday around 9.
If I can, I’ll drop down to check it out. You’ll smile and indulge me. I’m not quite a stranger yet.
You’ll say hello in the halls or smile when I read aloud to your second grade class next year, but these little firefly moments will have slipped away.
Time for the next chapter, as it should be.
What a great line to end this post on! Well done!
Yes, cherish these moments as you so expertly describe – like fireflies they are come and gone!
Love your descriptions and want to know more about unicorn slime. A sweet, sweet post! Being a literacy coach is such a wonderful job, and I thoroughly enjoyed these firefly moments – each and every one!
The remote connections have been so powerful for some. It is time for the next chapter … but this change is once again real for everyone. There will be new moments and you can still treasure the old.
I feel your pride and sadness in this slice. “I talk less and less and you dazzle more and more” resonates with me.
As it should be. I loved the image of these moments as fireflies. You captured the beauty of sitting with a child, savoring that blip in time.
Whether evident or not, the writing processes that led to these contents reveal an abundance of co-intent. Your encouragement and support of these young writers sounds both subtle and powerful.
So beautifully and lovingly describing the writing of a child and the desire to share everything, so the teacher can understand. It will be different once they are back in school and you too will have made a difference to each one.