Sheila Sims Iding
We do it for the children. Of course we do. Most all teachers do it for the children. From lesson plans to stories to learning materials to classroom decorations. We do it for the children. I am no different than most teachers. I carefully plan and strategically place things in my classroom…you know…for the children.
So yesterday when I was decorating Care Corner for Christmas (with the help of Adam and Meica) I kept thinking about the children. Each Christmas and Advent decoration was carefully considered and even more carefully placed not for my eyes, not for the environment of the classroom, but purely for the children.
I wondered about the Christmas tree and the Pooh ornaments and who would notice and who would adore that angel on top. I wondered about the snowflake lights and the Christmas finger puppets in Imagination Station.
I wondered about the little Pooh books that are ornaments and books to read all in one. I wondered about the newly made Happy Birthday, Jesus candles in student center.
I wondered about our Toyland and who might enjoy the music snow globes and who would be the first to push the button on the talking Polar Express Santa. I wondered about ALL the Christmas books in the red tin box and who would eagerly look through them for a special Christmas read.
I wondered about all the nativities carefully placed around the room. One near our prayer corner, one by saintland, one in the front of the room for small group time and the magnetic one by student center. So many nativities because they all tell the true meaning…the true story…of Christmas. I wondered who would love the rule that you can touch them and hold them. Even the breakable ones. Especially the breakable ones. The only rule: Be gentle and use the nativities to tell the Christmas story to each other.
So it was this morning. Everything was in place for the children. And as they came down the hall to greet the day…to greet Advent…to greet Christmas-ing in Care Corner, I turned out the classroom lights so they could see the magic. So they could be drawn to the tree, and excited by those new snowflake lights and giggle with glee at the transformed Christmas Care Corner. I knew then that it was for the children….or was it?
As the day unfolded and I watched them eagerly explore the new Christmas/Adventland, I was the one who was excited to watch, and drawn to their eagerness. They wondered if all the ornaments on the tree were Pooh ones or just some of them. They gazed at shaken snow globe and then invited a friend to gaze with them. They shared the 50-cent kaleidoscope and talk about different colors like it was a new video game. They very gently played with the big breakable nativity and made a display with the 3 Wiseman carefully watching over baby Jesus. The Christmas finger puppet people played as two others arranged the nativity magnets carefully in student center. And in the middle of the day when we took the Happy Birthday Jesus candles down to laminate them, one little concerned boy asked when will we put them back up. Someone even noticed Harriet’s little tree by her hamster cage and asked if they could make decorations for it. And one group hurriedly invited me to see the Saintland nativity they had been carefully using. They had set up the nativity in the shape of a cross.
So as I prepared for tomorrow and turned out all the lights that brought such excitement today, I thought about that gaze in the snowglobe, Harriet’s little tree and the Happy Birthday Jesus candles not yet returned and I wondered if it was really, totally, for the children. And then as I turned out the last light, I saw that little nativity that had been returned to Saintland for tomorrow. And it was then I noticed, when they put it back, they arranged it again in the shape of a cross with baby Jesus lovingly placed in the middle. It was then, as I was leaving, that I knew it wasn’t just for the children. It was then that I knew, it was also for the teacher…the blessed teacher who got to share these “for the children” memories today. Another blessed day for this teacher…for the children.