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“Oh, honey. That willnotbe a problem. Kyle can do things with his hands that-”
“Ew, Callie! TMI!”
“What?! I can’t help it if my man-”
Cassie put a hand over her friend’s mouth before she could disclose even more about her new husband’s magical hands. “Come on, dear friend of mine. I’ll dance with you. Just don’t say anything else about your sex life with your hubby. That’s too much information for even your best friend.”
Callie pulled Cassie out on the dance floor. “You got a deal, sister. Now, let’s Nae Nae!”
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Ok guys, let’s turn to page thirty-eight in your blue reader. We have to read our new story for the week.”
Cassie had just gotten the milk and juice count taken care of for her students for the snack at the end of the day, had taken up all her students’ folders, and the kids in the classroom where she was student teaching had completed their morning review sheet.
Cassie was working on her final semester of teaching in a first grade classroom at Townsend Elementary School in Norman. She had observed a high school English class when she first changed her major and realized very quickly that was not for her. She then observed a sixth grade classroom, a third grade classroom and a pre-k classroom before finally doing her last semester of student teaching in first grade. As soon as she walked through the doors the first day and was met with hugs and questions from the most outgoing students and shy smiles from the quieter ones, she knew she had found her ideal grade to teach.
After a week of observing the classroom teacher, Mrs. Simmons, and learning the class routine, Cassie was given the opportunity to work solely with the students. She had until December to learn as much as she could from the little faces sitting in front of her before she entered the last semester she would ever be a college student. Hopefully, she could pass her certification tests and find a teaching job for the next school year.
Looking at the class helper list, Cassie called the name of the tow-headed blonde with a smattering of freckles on his nose who sat in the first group of desks. “Tommy, it looks like you’re the helper for the day. Would you mind running the milk and lunch count down to the office so Miss Tammie can get it to the cafeteria?”
“Yes, ma’am, Ms. Randall.” Tommy walked to her teaching table and took the basket from her.
“What nice manners you have,” she replied, handing him the basket.
“The better to impress you with, my dear,” he said, raising his eyebrows and giving her an ornery smile. Last week, the class had read a riff on “Little Red Riding Hood.” Cassie had used the story to embellish on their vocabulary lesson that coincided with the story. The kids had taken the idea and ran with it. They really were a smart bunch. Of course, Cassie could be a tad biased. It was her first classroom after all, even if she wasn’t the actual teacher.
“I sure am glad you’re our teacher, Ms. Randall,” Jersey, a little girl with curly brown hair and cappuccino-colored skin told Cassie, who couldn’t help but smile at the resemblance between Jersey and JJ. “You’re so nice.”
“And you are too kind, sister,” Cassie said, walking to the front of the room and ruffling Jersey’s curls on the way to the front of the room. “Now, who remembers the big word we learned last week? The one where different words mean the same thing?”
“Sin-nuh-nims,” Jackson gave Cassie a smile complete with a missing front tooth.
“Close,” she replied. “Take the nuh out of the middle. It’s pronounced sin-uh-nims. Synonym. But good for you for remembering. That’s a hard word. Now, can anyone give me an example of a synonym?”
Several hands shot in the air. “Let’s see. Korbee, can you give me an example? You look like you have two awesome ones in that smart brain of yours.”
The girl with black hair and big green eyes stared up at Cassie. Of all the students in her classroom, Cassie felt the most connected with her. She reminded Cassie of herself. Korbee had that timid, scared look in her eyes that Cassie saw all too often reflected in hers when she was little. Cassie didn’t know what her story was, but she was willing to bet Korbee sometimes went home scared about what was waiting for her. She was one of the ones Cassie changed her major for. All kids needed love, but kids like Korbee needed the love the most. Needed someone to believe them. Someone they could open up to. Cassie hoped in her career she could reach kids like that.
“I don’t know,” Korbee said quietly.
“Sure you do,” Cassie replied. “You’re one smart cookie. How about I help?”
Korbee gave a small nod.
“Ok. If I said pretty, you would say-”
“Beautiful?” Korbee asked with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Yes! Awesome, kiddo. I knew you could do it!” Cassie was rewarded with a huge smile from the tiny girl. “Now, who had more synonyms for pretty?”
Several kids piped up with amazing words like gorgeous, stunning and cute. Cassie really was impressed. After their discussion, Cassie got out on of her favorite books to teach synonyms, “Pitch and Throw. Grasp and Know.”
“Ok, you guys, join me on the carpet. I have a fun book we are going to read before doing an activity that is even more fun!” After reading the book that made synonyms come alive, Cassie reached behind the rocking chair where she was sitting and pulled out the box she had worked on all Sunday afternoon.
“So, since we nowreallyknow and understand what a synonym is, we are going to make some synonym rolls.” Cassie pulled out her synonym worksheet. “First, we are going to brainstorm pairs of synonyms. After you write your pairs, we are going to use these-” Cassie pulled out the paper ‘synonyms’ rolls that looked like replicas of cinnamon rolls she had made on tan paper, “And write all our synonyms to display on our “Super Duper Smart Wall” in the hall. But what’s a chef without a chef hat?”
