We had a few minutes before the bell and I noticed a student had several paper butterflies on her desk.
"Oh, those are nice."
"Thanks. I was writing my "how to" blog post on origami and made them as practice. You can keep them if you want."
Blogging has long been a practice in my classroom for a few years now. I assign them different "types" of blogs to try throughout the year just to see which kinds of blogs they might like. Many students for their "how to" blog of course used recipes, so I was excited about something different. I accepted her offering and even tucked one of the paper butterflies near a 'Welcome' sign hanging next to the main door where she sits.
Now, I'm not sure if I just missed some or what, but ever since that first day I have slowly been finding more and more paper butterflies in my room. Each of them around the same spot. Each time I gather them and start affixing them to the welcome sign. I'm starting to think she's making them and leaving them behind for me to find. But I never see her make them and I can't tell if it's just one I happened to miss the day before.
Either way it makes me happy. I love the little reminders of their time with me. It can be paper butterflies, sticky note doodles, notes on my white board, or even stickers I gave them placed in unexpected spaces. It's evidence that they were here -- if even for a brief moment.
What little treasures are being left in your classrooms?
(Update: I started writing this blog yesterday, so today I intentionally kept an eye on that side of the classroom. Sure enough, I witnessed her gathering up a small selection of paper butterflies and even a crane! I knew it!)
Today's slice was brought to you by another Teach Write Daily Writing prompt.
Oh that is really lovely! I like how the butterflies around the welcome sign keep growing in number. Those little gifts and remembrances of students are so important to us as signs of their gratitude. I love receiving drawings my little ones.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I think the girls were encouraged when they saw I had put them up.
DeleteOh, when you talked about this tonight, I didn't realize you used paper wishes for your title! It's perfect!
ReplyDelete