March 2024 SOLC–Day 12
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Yesterday in my second grade class, students were celebrating their fiction reading by creating posters of favorite characters they’d met during their reading travels. They had a number of items to include on their posters, but were delighted by the illustration portion of the assignment. The class was totally immersed in the project, and there was a happy little buzz about the room. Everyone was taking their time and doing their very best.

One student, C., was working slowly and carefully on his depiction of Franny K. Stein. He had four books from the series in front of him and looked back and forth between them. One time as I walked by, I saw him frowning and heard him mutter, “One of her pony tails is longer than the other.” Then he carefully erased and redrew it.

As students began to finish up, they roamed about checking out each other’s work. Before long, I noticed a small crowd had gathered around C, who was still working steadily. A voice suddenly piped up.

“C, that’s really good!”

“Wow, C! That looks just like Franny!”

“Oh my gosh! That’s so good!” another classmate enthused.

Drawn by the comments, J. popped over to take a look. He’s a bit of a whirling dervish– lots of action, good-natured silliness and impulsivity. When he saw C’s picture, he stopped in his tracks. His mouth dropped open and he proclaimed, reverently and slowly, “I would remove the Mona Lisa to put that picture in!”

Other students nodded along. C. basked in the glow of all the compliments.

Later, I saw C carefully slide his completed work on top of the other finished pieces in the bin. His gaze lingered on his illustration, and I thought he might be admiring his efforts again. Then, he cocked his head to the side, bent down to look a little closer, and under his breath muttered, “She looks like she’s got a Donald Trump tan.”

I fully anticipated that this project would be engaging, but I really didn’t expect it to be so amusing along the way!