Mother's Day Cards

I spent my third day with the "Class That Won't Be Quiet", a 3rd grade class that is located a little inland from the coast. There was no testing today (3 straight days is enough!), except for the kid who missed testing due to her allergic reaction to carrots(!). She had to do makeup testing. Instead, we got back to a more normal routine...sort of. With Mother's Day on Sunday, the students devoted a little time creating and writing a card that each could give to his or her mother on Sunday. It was a very cute project: a card that looks like a huge candy kiss wrapped in foil.

We brainstormed what they might want to say and I wrote their ideas on the board. Then they took from those ideas, along with using their own, and wrote a rough draft. After I checked their spelling, etc. they did their final copy for the card (on chocolate kiss-shaped paper).

When you are a substitute teacher you rarely get much of an overall picture of a student. Normally you simply get a tiny snapshot of who they are and how they act. And even then you see only how they may act with a substitute. I got a little more today, thanks to these Mother's Day cards. Of course, some just wrote what went up on the board from the brainstorm. Others wrote more or made fine contributions to the brainstorm. The usual stuff included: "You are the best mom in the whole wide world" and "Happy Mother's Day" and, to go with the theme of the card, "You are sweeter than chocolate".

Without revealing identities, here are some of the things they wrote:

Dear Mom,
You are the most beautiful mom. I love you very much. You are the best mom in the world.
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Dear Mom,
You are there for me every time. I love you very much. Have a Happy Mother's Day.
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Dear Mom,
I love you and want to thank you for all the icky kisses you have done to me. I love you and have a happy mother's day and love you so much and you are sweeter than a chocolate kiss.
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Dear Mommy,
I thank you for doing so much hard work. It must be so hard for a single mom. I love you. I'm sorry if I put you through a lot of hard stuff. But I love you with all my heart and you're the best mom in the whole entire galaxy. You're sweeter than all the candy in the world.
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Dear Mom,
I look up at you and I see my hero. I don't know what I'd do without you, Mom. You are the best thing that happened to me. You're the world's best mom. You inspire me so much and I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

After these past 3 trying days, it was nice to see another side of them.