Sometimes you’ve got to move on #SOL22

“Christie. I hate to disturb your lunch, but can you come across and talk to T? He’s sobbing again, and he says he doesn’t know why.”

Again? I wonder what’s going on with this little guy. And today’s his sixth birthday. We can’t have tears on our birthday. He’s had such a good day, too! Dad came in and surprised him first thing and read to the class. He got a new reading partner that he’s super excited about. He was busting some serious moves during our dance break. I wonder what going on.

“Hey, bud. What’s up? Why are you so sad again? This is a couple of times now that you’ve had a great morning, and then at lunch, you feel sad. Is anything bothering you?”

“I don’t know. I just hate school.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Well maybe just writing.”

“Oh! Now I know why you’ve been getting upset at lunch. Writing Workshop comes not long after lunch. But you’re a great writer! Look at all the amazing how-to books you’ve been writing.”

“But I just can’t think of any more how-to books to write.”

“Well here’s the thing. I think we are just about done with writing how-to books. This is our fourth week and you guys have been cranking them out. I’m running out of ideas, too. Here’s a thought. We’ve got just two more weeks until vacation. How about for those two weeks the kids could have a choice about what kinds of books they want to write?”

“Really? That sound amazing! Anything we want?”

“Sure! We’ve learned how to write made-up stories, true stories, teaching books, and now how-to books. You could choose whatever you want.”

“Yeah! Thanks, Mrs. Wyman.”

“You got it. And Happy Birthday. Now finish your lunch, before I steal that Nestle Crunch Bar!”

The writing teacher in me knows nurturing a love of writing in a Kindergartener is far more important than sticking with the plan. Sometimes you’ve got to move on.

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March.