Out of the Mouths of 4th Graders

This week in our classroom we introduced an activity called "Getting to Know You Bags". It's a way of getting to know everyone by using visual clues. You put a handful of things in a bag that represent different aspects of who you are, and then take each one out one by one. You tell the story behind the object and at the end everyone has learned more about who you are.

On Tuesday Linda did her bag, and on Wednesday Matt (the other 4th grade teacher who team-teaches with Linda) did his. Yesterday was my day. I packed the following:

-The bag I used is one with maps all over it. (Thanks to Gayle and Mindy). I explained that it represented my love of travel.
-A picture of my family.
-A church cookbook that has a bunch of my favorite "mom recipes" and also because I love to cook.
-A book by Christopher Paul Curtis who autographed the book for me.
-A Cubs hat.
-A Marquette sticker.
-A bumper sticker from Hawaii that says "Live Aloha".
-A baggie with basil.

And here are some of the questions that the kids asked (I couldn't make this stuff up!):
-"Can you use the maps on that bag to go places?"
-"What are herds?" (I had to do a mini-lesson on pronunciation in addition to answering what herbs are.)
-"Have you been to Houston, TX?"
-"Have you been to Dallas?"
-"Have you been on a plane?" (This was asked after all the places I've been including Hawaii and Poland had been discussed .)
-"Where is Poland?"
-"Dwyane Wade went to Marquette." (This was a statement which I affirmed and opened Pandora's box on the darling's sports knowledge.)
-"Do you have a wedding ring?" (After I answered yes, a little girl in my class reached up and touched my ring.)
-"How many times have you been to Florida?"
-"Have you ever been to the place where the Chicago Cubs play?" (I didn't go into details about Opening Days, Friday afternoons in the bleachers, or games viewed from apartments and rooftops.)
-"Who is your favorite player on the Cubs?" (I didn't have an answer, but a lot of kids offered up Sammy Sosa as a former favorite.)
-"Do just boys play on the Chicago Cubs team, or do girls play too?"
-"Do you like to cook?" (Obviously my presentation wasn't riveting enough to hold everyone's attention.)
-"Are you allergic to guinea pigs?" (I told them I don't have pets because of my allergies.)
-"Are you allergic to goldfish?" (Asked after the guinea pig question.)

It was a lot of fun and I felt really special to have 36 pairs of eyes on me listening to my story. It just reaffirmed for me the importance of storytelling. Everyone has a story to tell and wants to tell it.

This is how Linda is building community in her classroom. She allows positive dialogue to occur between kids about themselves and others. By getting to know each other's stories, it is more likely that the kids will look out for each other in the community of the classroom, school, etc. Obviously we can all learn a little bit more about each other. And I think we can all learn a lot from this group of fourth graders. I know I have learned so much already. And I've only been there 3 days...