In September I volunteered to do a craft with Cole's 1st Grade class. My whole motivation for this endeavor was to make Cole feel special by showing up in his class. You know, give him some cool points for having the nice mom that comes in and does a fun craft. I spent weeks prepping for this. I decided on a theme of apples and tried out several ideas on the boys before settling on doing apple printing. I would make a print of their forearm for the trunk of the tree, and then print the green treetop and apples on the tree with the cut apples. To fill the hour I brought picture books about apples for Mrs. Rios to read while I took two kids at a time and did the fore-arm prints. I also thought an apple snack would be nice so, I brought caramel dip and Mrs. Rios asked all the kids to bring an apple that day. She wrote the parents in their weekly newsletter about it and also put a note in their agenda books the night before to remind them. Still, I felt nervous that some kids would be without apples, so my last stop before arriving at the school was to pick up a bag of 10 apples.The craft went great. The kids totally loved it. And the books were good too, even the one by Madonna--a surprise (I guess tromping around the stage in your underwear doesn't automatically disqualify you from having brains).
Next I had the kids line up to hand me their apples to be cut. That's when the kids started buzzing, "But what about Cole? His mom forgot to send him an apple!" Apparently, all the parents remembered, but me. Mrs. Rios said to me. "They've been very concerned about Cole. I assured them that Cole's mom would bring him an apple when she came." Her assurances obviously didn't stick. They kept on saying, "Cole doesn't get a snack! How come Cole doesn't have an apple?" I said several times, "I brought Cole 10 apples!" and pointed to the bag on the table. One little girl had two apples and I asked her why, "My mom said I should bring two in case someone's mommy forgot to send them an apple. This apple is for Cole!" Through all this conversation Cole sat at his desk like a brave soldier while all the other kids lined up to get their apples cut. When we were down to the last kid and Cole still hadn't joined the line I said, "Cole why aren't you in line? I have an apple for you." Cole brightened and said, "I do?" Poor guy, but really! After weeks of planning and an hour in the class room, what was the impression left with the class? Cole's Mom forgot to send him an apple! I'm just glad I brought that bag of apples because I had to replace one kid's apple that was totally bruised inside--he must have a really sorry mom!
10 comments:
What a good mom and what sweet classmates to be so concerned about Cole. I love it.
hee hee! kids just love drama. what a great activity, i love it!
You know the sad part...in twenty years Cole will be telling the story about being the only kid in class without an apple and will have no recollection you were even in his classroom. Despite anything and everything I have ever done, Dallin still only remembers the, and I quote him, "abuse"
that is so funny. i guess once kids get something stuck in their heads - there is no changing it. even with 10 apples! and the funniest thing is that Cole was surprised that he got to have a snack! He let everyone brainwash him that his mom really forgot his snack even when she's standing right there with a bag full of apples. so funny.
Kids! It's good you recorded this for posterity so you can straighten him out later.
I love the prints. I love that you volunteer at school. I haven't done that in years.
You are way more motivated than I've ever thought of being.
Did you teach them to sing "Apples red and apples yellow, crisp and juicy, sweet and mellow; loud the boughs till they bend over, and the branches touch the clover...." (I'll leave out the moral. Apple time is my favorite, and you glorified it.
That's "loAd." And I thougth I was such a good proofreader.
And then there's the other half of the parenthesis. It must be bedtime.
Good for you for being so involved. I keep thinking, I'm too busy with all these kids to be involved. When they're all grown up, THEN I can volunteer in their schools!
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