Thursday, December 10, 2009

Important Book

My kids are writing these holiday books called "The Important Book." It follows a little pattern and they write different paragraphs. We make holiday covers. It's cute. One of the kids in my class lost her father last year. I know because I also taught her brother. One paragraph of hers said the following:

The most important thing about my Real Dad is that he loved me very good. I remember once he used to work at McDonalds. He got fired the first day. He ate a hamburger and that's why he got fired. He was a good person. But the most important thing about my Real Dad is he loved me very good.

I was showing it to the other teachers and they thought it was funny. It does seem funny if you don't know the circumstance. It makes me sad though. I guess I know how it is when you try to remember something good about your real dad and you can't. It made me wonder if he was eating a hamburger because they couldn't afford food. I heard the rumor that this man was killed by gang violence. It makes me wonder if he tried to hold a job before he joined a gang.

2 comments:

luckeyfrog said...

It is somewhat amusing to me what kids remember most. Even for me- my dad died when I was in elementary school, and some of my most strong memories are of the littlest, seemingly most insignificant things.

Still, though- I'm glad that this student felt her dad loving her was the most important thing. That's a good thing for her to focus on, especially after a tragedy.

Would you mind sharing more of this book? It sounds interesting.

ms.understood said...

Disclaimer: I use another teacher's lesson plans for these (like so many things I do)!We read "The Important Book" by Margaret Wise Brown. The kids brainstorm two people, two things, and one food they can write about. They use the template seen in my post and write about each thing. We have them type and print a separate page for each thing, then we bind them as books. To make the cover we wrap up cardboard in wrapping paper. Hopefully, that makes sense. If not, let me know and I will clarify.