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Sheila Sims Iding
Friday is my favorite teaching day. Please don’t tell the other days. I don’t want any hurt feelings. Friday is kind of everybody’s favorite workday and the other weekdays have to feel badly about that. So please…don’t tell the other days that Friday is my favorite day of teaching.
The day doesn’t have to go very far to prove why it’s my favorite. The morning routine is no different than the morning routine of most days. Monday has a hold on the energy of starting the day but for the rest of the week it’s pretty much the same. Smiles, greetings, hello-ings, hugs, twirls, eagerness to tell me some urgent news…even more eagerness to show me some important treasure. The busy-ness of the morning is the same and has a familiar rhythm to it…notes in basket, homework in basket, folders emptying, journalists journaling, friends friending and Care Corner Kids settling for a great day…my favorite day.
But wait…something from the very beginning of this day is different. Something from the very start of this morning makes this day special…the moment they reach for their mass cross. In the organized craze of turning in papers, getting out journals and sharpening pencils…there is the reaching for the mass cross. The very first sign that Friday is special is when the mass crosses start to adorn the busy-getting-ready-for-the-day Care Corner Kids.
The rest of the morning routine flows as everyone knows their job and everyone reminds them if they don’t. Jobs are done, journals are journaled, routines are routined and we are off to mass. Walking to mass is even special with the Care Corner Kids. We always…ALWAYS…walk outside. A chance to appreciate God’s creation, a chance to enjoy nature and a chance to have a quiet, peaceful walk around the outside of the school instead of the hallways which don’t seem as spiritual as our greet-the-morning walk to mass.
When we get to church we don’t just walk through the doors. We stop for a moment to “prepare ourselves to go into God’s house.” They know what these words mean. Little hands fold, little voices stop, little feet enter the house of God. I think I am most proud when I walk into church with these Care Corner Kids. To watch them bless themselves with water, to watch them reverently bow, to watch them sing and pray, fills my heart with pride.
I asked a lot of these kids. I have huge expectations for all of them academically, behaviorally and spiritually. Some of my biggest expectations are when they come to mass….when they are in God’s house. They learn early on about these expectations. They learn early on of my disappointment if they fail to meet them. I get that they are only 6 and 7 years old. I realize parts of mass can be boring when they use grown-up words and scripture. I know it’s challenging to sit still for ½ hour, let alone one whole hour. It’s hard for me at 59…I can’t imagine how hard it must be for a 6 or 7 year old. God gives us a ba-zillion minutes together in Care Corner and the 60 minutes we give back to Him during mass, is our special gift to God. The Care Corner Kids have become great gift givers at our mass each Friday. No wonder it’s my favorite day of teaching.
And you could stop there. Oh sure…that is only the first hour of the day. Friday holds so much more. A spelling test to show off their phonics and handwriting skills. (Double sticker day!) A reading test that they take on their own (what grown up first graders). Time For Kids magazine which connects us to the world around us. Show and Tell, Writer’s Workshop all add to the “favorite-ness” of Friday. Story time brings “Silly Story Day” and we close the classroom door that is never closed so we can laugh right out loud. And we do. At the end of the day there is Clean Up Club where we wash our desks and chairs and then the most fun…Footloose. Our M&M on Friday is Footloose. It’s the best way to end the busy week. It’s even better when parents, teachers and other students stop by to dance with us. EVERYBODY cut Footloose!
Today Friday had even more. We had a father visit us for the whole day...how special for his first grader. We had special show and tell (3 things we love in a bag). We took our money to the poor bank and the dad gave even more money for our poor bank donation. We finished our World Explore visit to the continent of Africa. We turned in our February journals to get our new March journals. And...we got our new reading book. The last reading book in our series for this year. (Yikes!). So this Friday held even MORE than most Fridays.
But you don’t need the “more” of Friday. Once you go to mass with the Care Corner Kids, the “best” day is sealed. To watch them pray, to see their mass crosses, to bless themselves with Holy Water…is enough. If you ever go to a children’s mass and hear them sing, their songs…their voices take spirituality a level most don’t get to realize and I get to realize it every week. The Care Corner Kids have lots to do every day…every week…but the one job they take most seriously is gifting back to God at mass. Those 60 minutes we give back to God is meant to be a gift to Him. Turns out every Friday morning at mass, I feel gifted too. Which is why Friday is my favorite day of teaching.