Tuesday, January 1, 2008

My Favorite Christmas Gift This Year



My favorite gift this year was from one of my students, Kassi. First of all, Kassi is a cool kid! She hums all the time. I am confident she knows all the words to EVERY Christmas carol. She carried my class in the Christmas Program. She is just neat!

On the first day of school I always have my second graders bring a bag to school with three items in it.
1. Something that shows what they did over the summer.
2. Something that shows a hobby or interest they have.
3. Something that shows what they would like to be or do when they grow up.
We look at the items and try to guess who the bag belongs to.

One of the items in Kassi's bag was a beautiful large shell that she had found on the beach in the Carloinas. She was very proud of it. She said no one else had found a shell that big. I mentioned that I was going to have to take a trip to the beach to find some beautiful shells like that because I was in the middle of redecorating our bathroom in a beach theme.

So, on the day of our Christmas party, there are gifts under the tree to me from the students. I ask every year that they don't do it, but they always do. One of the gifts is wrapped, a loose term here, in a piece of our classroom graph paper. There is TONS of tape, and my name is spelled wrong :0) Kassi proudly hands it to me and tells me it is from her. I cannot imagine what it could be, but Madison informs me that I am going to LOVE it. I open the crumbled graph paper to find THE shell that Kassi had brought on the first day of school. Tears immediately sprang into my eyes. What a wonderful gift! I couldn't have loved anything more! I told her that she did not have to give it to me, but she insisted I have it. I was touched and will cherish it always!

2 comments:

Katzback2350 said...

Did Kassi paint on the shell? It's really cool! How is the bathroom coming? Did you get it finished? What's left to do?? Let me know. - Seriously.

Katzback2350 said...

BTW, tell Kassi that Mrs. Layer says "Hello" - and the rest of the class too. (This is the Kassi with the older sister... cannot think of her name right now...) I miss the kids!

Love to all.