The first thing I noticed entering the elementary school with my brain engaged in a teacher mentality mode was not the size of the students. As a grandmother of two, that is already a part of my visual repertoire. What was the real shocker is the size of the table and chairs they expect me to use, followed closely by the darling bulletin boards that cover parts of every classrooms’ walls.
Since this is spring, there seems to be an overload of really smart bunnies making all sorts of points. I assume that other animals are equally as intelligent pointing out parts of speech or math tips in other seasons, but in April it is bunnies.
Full disclosure: I went years without ever adorning the cork area in my journalism classroom until one day my teacher evaluation had written at the bottom, “Do something about that bulletin board.” So I did.
“Journalism Brings the World to Your Doorstep,” complete with punch out lettering and a big cardboard globe bought from a teacher supply store, added to the educational experience in my classroom. I thought it was brilliant. The blessing was that I only had one, small little space to fill, so my brainstorm didn’t really have to cover much area and was so generic it worked for every class I taught-for the next 20 years.
Clearly this is why I was attracted to high school education, not elementary. After only two weeks as a tutor, I’m on overload from bunnies and cute bulletin boards.
Luckily I get a break from them for the 1.5 hours of the day when my little math groups meet at a tiny table with little child-sized chairs placed in an exit area of the hall. I carefully explain the problems using whiteboard markers on the wall’s subway tiles, wiping as I go with paper towels from the nearby restroom.
It is amazing what you can do on subway tiles. I need to send this decorating tip to HGTV.
With my knees bent up hitting the table edge, we “borrow one” and “carry the two” along with other basic math concepts right there on the wall. I continue to amaze myself at how brilliant they make me look. And to think, I was worried about doing math!
Of course, I’ve carefully worked every problem on that day’s worksheet the night before, using a calculator, but I always take pie while it’s passing. This pie just happens to up my math cred.
My next hop is over to the other side of the building for science and reading. I swear those bulletin board bunnies are alive since they seemingly are multiplying every week.
In science, we are exploring the vores — omni, herbi and carni types. Sadly this little group is all giggly girls who find the food chain of life only as interesting as it applies to today’s school lunch menu. They love to play “try to distract the teacher,” a game that I know all too well. In fact, I think I was a pro player in when I was a student, especially in math classes.
Just in case you are interested, a bunny is a herbivore. But despite the rumor that carrots improve your eyesight, I assure you that the ones eating carrots don’t look any cuter to me.
Writes of Passage 
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