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Sheila Sims Iding
They were just names. Names on a list. Names a teacher can’t wait to get so she can start all that labeling. All. That. Labeling. Names on books, notebooks, folders, cubbies, desks, job charts and super stars. Names on important things like grade book pages, attendance sheets and those big white communicator envelopes. Names on not-so-important things like the list for using the “Science Cube” and the list for being a “Bessie Buddy”. Names you write a ba-zillion times before they even step foot into your classroom. And names I whisper a little prayer each time I write. Even though I don’t know them yet. God bless Jack and God bless Mandy and God bless Will and God bless Matthew and God bless Avery…names that become prayers. Names that sneak their way into your heart and you fall in love with them before you even know them. Then open house night their little faces sit across a table from you and you give them their first homework (that star) and they give you their first Care Corner smile. And all of a sudden…just like that…they are not a name anymore. They are your student. All year. 26 names that are now little friends and together we are a team. What a team we will be. And this amazing team will be called “Care Corner Kids”.