Now for the Christmas Spirit

And since my last post was negative, I'm going to do something positive.  Remember how I said I thought about blogging a lot during my blogging vacation?  Christmas was something I planned to talk about, at least a little bit, of course!  We have Christmas traditions that I'll probably share with you, but what I want to write for you first is a Christmas story.

As many of you know, Kyle works full-time as a substitute teacher in the school district where I work.  Lots of people wonder if he gets plenty of work as a substitute and the answer is yes!  Aside from days that he has requested not to work, I think this entire year he's only had three days where he has not been called in to sub for someone.  He works mostly at the high school, somewhat often at the middle schools, and only occasionally at the elementaries, which is the way he prefers it.  One day last week, however, Kyle went in to one of the elementary schools to cover a second grade class.  He of course came home exhausted (I have to hand it to elementary teachers...that's a job that requires a LOT of energy and a LOT of patience.  I couldn't do it!).  The best part of his day when he goes to the elementary schools are the stories of the cute things kids do or say and how he reacts to that in a school setting.  I love hearing these stories!

Anyway, on the day he filled in for second grade, the students were working on narrative writing (funny...we still work on that in high school).  The teacher left the assignment that students had to write their own Christmas story and Kyle put together one really quickly so they could see an example.  Here's the graphic organizer the teacher left that Kyle used to help structure his narrative (you can't read it very well, so I'll decipher it for you):

Prompt:  The room looks like a sea of gift wrap.  There are bows and ribbons tossed all over.  Boxes of different sizes are stacked high.  Everyone smiles with great joy for the gifts they received.  What's that?  Could it be?  There is one last present hidden behind the tree?  Who is it for?  What's inside?
Who is the story about?  Mr. Byard
Where does the story take place?  Mr. Byard's house
Tell what happens in the story.  Use details:  First, Mr. Byard opens the present.  It's a jet pack.  Next, Mr. Byard puts the jet pack on.  It looks so cool!  Then, Mr. Byard jets around the house breaking things.  Lastly, Mr. Byard promises to only use the jet pack outside.

Here's the story that came of all this planning:

It was Christmas day at Mr. Byard's house.  He and Mrs. Byard had opened all their presents--or so they thought.  There was still one very large package behind the tree.  It was for Mr. Byard!  He tore open the wrapping paper and stuck the bow on top of the head of his orange cat, Tiger.  Tiger hates bows.  Inside, the package was the most amazing sight Mr. Byard had ever seen.  It was a jet pack!  Mr. Byard quickly strapped the jet pack on.  It fit perfectly.  He wondered what would happen if he hit the starter button...

...WHOOM!

The jet pack and Mr. Byard took off like a racket.  Mr. Byard's brown and white cat, Max, ran out of the room.  He's a big scaredy cat.  Mr. Byard jetted back and forth and to and fro, knocking over lamps and piece's of his wife's decor.  He slammed into the china cabinet.  CRASH! went the plates.  He flew past the curtains, burning two big holes in them.  

There was almost nothing he hadn't broken or burned before he finally turned off the jet pack and fell to the floor.  Mr. Byard's black cat, Keebler, sneezed from all the smoke.  Mrs. Byard handed Mr. Byard a broom and told him to start cleaning.  Mr. Byard promised he would never use his jet pack inside ever again.

 

The kids couldn't believe he drew that!  And of course they found the story exciting and cool.  Little do they know that he'd really like a jet pack for Christmas!  He characterizes us all to well :)

Merry Christmas!!!