Young Author's Night

In other news, the Fantastic Fifth Grade had their end-of-year poetry and prose reading. We turned the classroom into a 'coffee shop,' borrowed a mike from the church, snagged the podium from the school entryway, and used the overhead projector as a spotlight.

Each student got to read as many of their selections from the class book as they wanted, another benefit of having only ten students. I made the event mandatory so there was a fantastic turnout. The captive audience, however, enjoyed themselves immensely.

Anthony cracked everyone up with his slightly racy (for a ten-year-old) essay entitled, "I Love Angelina Jolie." "It would be nice to marry her, but Brad Pitt is obviously in the way. I'll have to deal with him later. The baby is a problem, too. To fulfill my fantasy, I have to kiss her, just once. Her lips are so big it makes me want to bite them." His father was literally falling out of his chair with laughter. Anthony finished with, "I'm obsessed with Pamela Anderson, too, but that's a whole 'nother story."

Rajanique thrilled us with her brilliant narrative about the day she ran her head into the wall and had to go get stitches. She organized her story so that it started in the middle--sheer genius for a fifth grader. "I was hot and sticky and hungry and tired. It was eight o clock at night and the doctor was finally stitching up my head. I was thinking; Will I still be able to play? Will I be able to lay down? Will I still be beautiful?" The tale included a gripping scene of me running across the playground to rescue her, and pressing my (new, cashmere) glove to her head to stop the blood. I felt like an action hero. And I felt like an actual hero when she drew the biggest applause of the night--she's a student that most folks might not think to applaud otherwise.

There's lots more to say about the evening but I am running short on time. Suffice it to say that the fifth grade (and their teacher) is having a pretty decent end of year. Tomorrow is our end-of-year field trip. Monday, our VIP visitor is coming, and we'll practice for our graduation ceremony. Tuesday, the kids graduate...and that's it!