Thursdays at Thatcher: Focus

Follow our adventures on Twitter by searching #ThursdaysatThatcher each week as a member of the Communication Office staff visits our friends in Darlington's ELA-8, sharing this very special place within our 500 acres.

Today was certainly an eye-opening experience. With less than three weeks to go, I just knew to expect a bunch of crazy Tigers bouncing off the walls. I learned, however, just how focused our students are even in the midst of holiday-themed festivities, Christmas music, and of course, Santa Claus!  

I started out my Thursday morning in Mrs. Ray's second-grade class. I joined just as their math unit was beginning, which proved very appropriate to the season. All children were "given" a $199 budget and a Wal-Mart wish list with which to do some damage. It was fun not only to hear what the kids were looking forward to most with the holiday season approaching, but to see that they were still learning in the process. I should have been in this math class 20 years ago. It could have saved me lots of headaches as I continue to learn the importance of budgeting as a young adult!

The second-graders enjoyed putting the "puzzle pieces" together, figuring what they could and could not purchase within the confines of their allotted funds. In addition to refining my budgetary skills, I also learned that Mrs. Ray's sister is Nicki Minaj! I'll be asking Santa for some backstage passes this year. After watching the little Rays of Sunshine work on their "math outside of the classroom," I observed as the kids gave each other hoots for their servanthood and good deeds of the morning. I think we grown-ups could benefit from placing similar little fuzzies in containers with our names on them. Who doesn't like to collect pats on the back?

My next adventure took me to the Smith Smarties in Pre-Kindergarten. It has been many moons and presidents ago that I was last in Pre-K, but with a little help from my Smarties, I was able to pick it back up. Following a fun dance video to get out some of our extra energy, I sat with the boys in the class as we listened to Mrs. Smith's direction on a craft project.

I was very proud of my construction paper book cover for "A Christmas Week," but it was clear by the end that my Pre-K friends were running circles and rectangles around me. I'd like to mention how amazed I was at their penmanship...as someone who was challenged with the K in their name as a preschooler, I'll admit I was a little jealous. It took me forever to figure out that letter!

After our craft activity, we played a game where we were supposed to tell Mrs. Smith the correct letter on the stepping stones we found ourselves on once music stopped playing. I had to ask my Smarties friends for help on one of the letters, yet another one found in my first name. Throughout my time with them, the kids got a real kick out of identifying each other as "naughty" or "nice," with Santa and his elves watching. I must be honest, I was labelled the former many-a-time by my Smarties classmates.

No day in Thatcher Hall is complete without story time in the Secret Garden, where Mrs. Foster read us stories about a dragon and his Christmastime adventures. While hanging out with Mrs. Watkins second-graders, we also got to guess what was in a large red stocking, pulling out various and sundry items to see if we were correct. Even in a more casual setting like this one, the children still remained pretty focused. I was wanting to be chosen as the "secret gardener," but hopefully next time it will be me and I'll get to choose from Mrs. Foster's coveted stickers! 

Afterwards, I headed down to Mrs. Anthony's class to see the reading and writing projects they were working on. I didn't recall working on thesis statements as early as fourth grade, but that's exactly where these Tigers were headed. The students told me all about the explorers, the natural disasters, animals, and other topics on which they were becoming experts. As a part of the process, the kids were taking inventory about what they previously knew about the topic and what they are currently learning, and will then form it into a thesis that evolves into an essay. This sounds more like college-level stuff to me!

My last experience today was an assembly at Thatcher where the Upper School DarBots team got to present on a competition they have this weekend. I was just as much in awe over the activities that the robots were doing as my Lower School buddies. I'm not kidding when I say I have to pinch myself at times to remind me that these kinds of things are happening right here on our campus.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Mrs. Kinney and some of the Upper School students told us all about fun opportunities to explore new activities, new ideas and new skills that could be learned by being a part of Darlington's robotics program. The assembly, like the other gatherings of the day, kept the attention of the students from beginning to end, as the Tigers wanted to learn more and more. Needless to say, it was a very exciting Thursday at Thatcher!

Our kids truly have the ability to teach others, and it seems that every time I am around them, I learn something new about this great place that has become my work home. Each day I learn more and more about myself as a person, and our students have had a lot to do with that as well.

As life-long learners, we should always embrace that we can learn from everybody, not just the experts and the who's who in their respective fields. Today I learned from these little Tigers to keep it up, to keep going, to keep running, to finish strong as we head towards Christmas break. Our work isn't over! As a life-long learner, the work is never over, and is that not a rather comforting thought?

Happy holidays!