Monday is Writing Club, and I have a small group of delightful kids. I’d been hoping that moving our meeting time to Mondays this year would help me draft some slices and blog more regularly. Last week it worked well, but today I wasn’t making much headway. I’d started and stopped. Started and stopped.
I looked around the room. Everyone else was busy writing. I sighed. I glanced out the window. It was misting rain, but there was bright sun shining.
“It’s rainbow weather!!!” I cried. “Do you all want to check if there’s a rainbow?”
Heads popped up from notebooks. “Yes!” they all exclaimed.
Within a minute we were up and out of the room. We raced down the hall to the door and stepped outside into the misty rain.
“Ah! Why is the rain so cold?” M. gasped.
We immediately started scanning the skies.
“There’s got to be a rainbow,” I said. “It’s perfect for one!” Suddenly I saw the faintest wisp of color. Pointing toward it, I exclaimed, “It’s not very bright, but can you see it?”
“Where!? Where!?” they yelled, swiveling their heads around.
“Oh, I see it!” C. exclaimed. “I can see the green…and a little yellow…and definitely some of the red.”
“There it is!”
“Oh! There it is!”
“It’s a rainbow!”
Three of the girls ran forward onto the path, chanting loudly, “Rainbow!! Rainbow!! Rainbow!!” They leapt into the air and spun about. The rainbow was so faint that you can’t even see it in the photo, but their joy was infectious.
We waited to see if it got brighter, but it didn’t. The rain eased, so we wandered back inside in the afterglow of delight.
“I’d never seen a rainbow before,” C. commented quietly as we reentered the classroom. “Now I want to write about rainbows!”
And so did I.
Addendum:
As we packed up to leave, I said, “Keep your eyes on the skies on the way home!”
We headed down the hallway to where parents were already waiting in the vestibule. Behind them rain fell again in big silver drops lit by the late afternoon sun. The kids excitedly were telling their parents about our rainbow sighting.
Glancing at the skies outside, I stated firmly, “There HAS to be a rainbow out there. It’s perfect rainbow weather! I’m going out with you as you leave to see if we can find one.”
We walked out of the school into brilliant light and rainfall…
and a huge, arcing double rainbow!
As I end this delightful slice, I was thinking how it all happened, sighting rainbows, because you were struggling to get words on your page and were distracted. Maybe we all need to do things that create experieinces when we can’t write. Then we have an event to write about. So much goes into writing! Thaanks for reminding me of this and thanks for sharing your magical rainbow afternoon!
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Among your many talents I had no idea you were a Rainbow Savant. What joy for these kids to see the rainbow. Whenever I had a chance when middle school teaching, I would take any excuse to leave the classroom with my students to explore elsewhere in the building or outside. Glad to hear you make those same efforts. Sometimes four walls are just too much!
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Oh wow!
I love your use of dialogue, your description of your students’ enthusiasm, and the big pay off of the giant rainow at the end rewarding your belief.
Such an uplifting post! Thanks!
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Ahh I love what Sally notes. Sometimes we need that distraction and to live a little in order to have what we need to write about! Though I do think I need to rediscover a more consistent writing practice…
In Miami, I’ve seen more rainbows than I have in my whole life. It’s one of the joys of living here, for sure! Never ceases to amaze me or make me smile when I catch one.
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Not just the gift of a writing club, but the gift to C. of their very first rainbow! Priceless! (Also, thank you, Universe, for playing along with Ms. Hogan and providing a DOUBLE rainbow!)
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I agree with all the other commenters, but I also love how you taught them to recognize the conditions for a rainbow, and had the secure knowledge that there had to be rainbows out there because of the conditions. And then you were proven right. They learned a wonderful lesson about knowing something exists even when you can’t see it- yet.
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Thanks for this. I was pleasantly surprised that this story had a rainbow ending. I was satisfied with the first picture of the faintest sighting. Those kids are going to be rainbow hunters for the rest of their lives. That alone is a legacy of your writing group.
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I love the impromptu rainbow excursion and the kids’ joy, what a special treat to end the day with a double arc rainbow! That will certainly inspire more writing!
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