Penny, Shannon, Antonio, James and Brian. Kelly was absent.
Every minute of 4th grade in Harvard classroom looks just like this.
Clockwise from the top (tallest): Jasper, Charlie, Harry, Von, Joey, Peter, Leo.
And they're both my absolute favorites.
The Dartmouth 4th graders are perfectly behaved, smart, interesting kids. Brian brings Angry Bird toys to school on a daily basis just so he can show them to me, even on days when I'm not in his classroom. Shannon always speaks in complete sentences. Antonio is the only student I have who reads stories with any sort of storytelling inflection. James loves stag beetles and once wrote a 2-page essay about their mating behaviors, complete with detailed diagrams. I asked him to please write his 6th essay about something other than stag beetles. He wrote about his homework habits. I lifted the ban on beetle essays. Today, I told them I was moving away soon. They were upset. I told them my rabbit needs a new home and that I wanted him to move into one of their homes because they're my best students. Suddenly, I couldn't move away soon enough.
The Harvard 4th graders aren't particularly smart or well-behaved, but they make me laugh out loud almost every day. They don't speak English very well, but they speak the language of sound effects with complete fluency. There are a lot of poop jokes, chairs tipping over, and imaginary ninja fights. My only real frustration with them is the ungodly amount of nose-picking. Today we were talking about moms and Joey told me that his mom is "very big because she eats all the food all day," but that I shouldn't worry about her because she likes to dance for fun. Then he stood up to demonstrate the dancing and the svelte figure she would acquire from the activity. What worried me more was the charade of how his dad drinks soju and burps for fun.
This is a great post! This trip has blessed you. Can't wait to see you again, my lovely Big!!!!!
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