food for thought. kids style.

there are travel ramblings that remain to be posted, but now that i am back in the land of children, my thoughts have *temporarily* returned to them.

i was doing some marking (GASP!) after school this afternoon (what a concept... perhaps this is something i should be doing all along, and not only when i have marks to submit!), and i got some insights through their eyes. over the break, i had an optional homework assignment (i know, i'm a terrible person; but don't worry, there are prizes involved) which involved writing sentences about miss sarah.

here are a few things they wrote about yours truly. edited for clarity purposes. ha.

"you are the funniest, goofiest and the nicest."

"but most i love about you is that you always don't want to miss school because you want to be with your friends and us."
[if you only knew...!]

"miss sarah told us to write 5 sentences about her."
[she likes to get straight to the point]

"miss sarah is always gonna be miss sarah."
[points for insight!]

"when she is mad she always says, i'm very disappointed"
[oh goodness. i sound like my mother.]

"i hope you could come to 3rd grade, we are never bored in 2F because you always do something fun, like morning activities"

"you are the best teacher in the world!"
[well... i wouldn't go that far. let's keep things in perspective, now.]


enough about me. this next assignment was to draw or write a representation or response to the book called 'the important book'. the kids could really do whatever they wanted, as long as they demonstrated to me how they were thinking about the book. from their perspective, the world seems so simple and clear:

"the important thing about a desk is that you can open it and close it."

"the important thing of an orange is that it is delicious"

"the important thing about a soccer ball is that you can kick it."

"the important thing about a sumo is that he is fat."

"the important thing about a tree is that it gives you oxygen. the trees give house to little slimy tickly creatures, they are bright like shiny blossom but the most important thing is that they give people oxygen in the world."

"something special about a mitten is that it can keep you warm by the snow and you can put it on because if you are going to do a snowman, your hands aren't going to freeze."

and my most insightful words of advice from 8 year olds are last:

"the important thing about love is that you feel fuzzy and you have someone to be with you until you die or separate."

"the meaning of the book is that everything has a use and everything is very important and nice and we should appreciate what we have. the important thing about something good is that it has something bad, and something bad always has something good."

i don't think i could have said it better!