Wallcome Back, Mrs. Gellmore!

It was good to be back in class today.

Several of my students acted so surprised to see me again. “Where were you, Mrs. Gilmore?” one asked. “You’ve been gone for two days.” Another boy did a double take in the hallway as he headed for the library. “Mrs. Gilmore!” he exclaimed. “I thought you weren’t coming back until Friday!” A girl popped into my room as she walked by on her way to another class and laid a note on my table. “I missed you, Mrs. Gilmore.” I told her thank you, and I had missed her, too. Her thank you card, a folded piece of notebook paper, opened to reveal an interesting pink and red heart-shaped face inside with long red hair. The words written in red marker read, “Wallcome back, Mrs. Gellmore.” I smiled and taped it to the shelf above my desk so I could see it every time I stood in my room. I wanted her to know, when she saw it there, that it was treasured by me, Mrs. Gellmore.

I  am seldom away from school. They are not accustomed to me being absent. I had told the kids last week that I would be away at a conference on Monday and Tuesday, but I guess they had forgotten.

It was a strange feeling to return to my routine in the middle of the week like this, to see all the comfortable and familiar things I had left behind while I attended the Elementary Educators’ Conference. I truly was glad to be back. The kids had made me feel welcome today. They warmed my heart.

The reality, however, sank in pretty quickly as I had to orient myself to it being Wednesday and not Monday. Like other folks in their work, teachers have a schedule to follow from day to day. For me, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are not the same as Tuesdays and Thursdays. For instance, every morning a few children, one in a wheelchair, gets off the short bus at 7:20. There are five of us who take turns each day meeting her there to bring her in, and Mondays is my day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am one of two teachers who maintain order and peace in the cafeteria for breakfast before school starts. On Wednesdays, we have scheduled IEP meetings after lunch and/or EC department meetings. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I get a 45 minute planning session while all the fourth and fifth grade students are in a Specials class (music, PE, computer lab, library, or the Science Resource teacher comes to their class). I love those planning periods.

Except for those changes, my days pretty much follow a routine of reading, writing, and math with various groups of students, both in the regular classroom, and in my own resource classroom.

Today, there was a pleasant surprise in my co-teacher’s 5th grade classroom. The students had brought in their Social Studies projects. Their assignment had been to choose a North or South American Indian tribe to report on. I was able to observe the first few reports this morning, and was very impressed with the information they had learned about the Aztecs, the Cree, the Toltecs, and another tribe I can’t recall. Mostly, I was impressed with the students’ attempt to present their posters, clay villages, foods, and other visuals with enthusiasm and expertise. I could tell they had really studied the tribes they had chosen. A couple of young ladies had written notes on little index cards and occasionally glanced at them to remind them of what they wanted to say, but other than that, they spoke from what they remembered, from what they had learned, easily retelling details of sports played, religious rites, and styles of clothing. I could tell they had enjoyed working on their projects.

Also, today was the day they had to select a book for a book report. Our media specialist introduced them to the genre of mystery as they sat in the library. She held up various books at reading levels ranging from second grade to middle school, for which I was truly grateful that she had selected several at the lower grade levels. She spoke about Cam Jansen, and Nancy Drew, and of Tarheel Ghosts, and Loch Ness monster. The kids, their eyes closely following every title she held up, whispered to each other that there was the book they wanted to read. She reminded them that this book was rather long, and one might want to read it when one had an entire month, or this book is short enough to read and give a book report in two weeks. She opened them up so they could see the elaborate illustrations of one author or the many chapters of another. By the time we had spread on the tables all the mystery books she had found, the students were on them. Some stood in line eagerly discussing their found treasure, while a few others looked on with gentle envy that another had picked up the book they had wanted. It was good to see their excitement over finding a book, and knowing that another student wanted the one they had. I look forward to hearing their book reports in two weeks.

I helped one student who had to make a second choice by enticing her into another book. I explained that she could retell one of the ghost stories as she gives her book report. That seemed appealing to her, so she checked it out, and for the moment she was able to forget her first choice.

I am crunched for making plans for next week, but, what the heck, I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing.