Grade 4: Moments I Cherish

It's that time of year when kids miss school due to illnesses. When they come back to school, they most always have catch-up work to complete. When they miss art, they miss a whole lot... a weeks worth in one day.

Last week, as my 4th graders in Mr. Belford's class moved on with their clay coil containers, I had a few students who were absent the week prior.
I had half of the class continuing to build into their coils and the other half that had finished and were ready to glaze their bisque pieces. My absent students needed me to explain the lesson but I had to distribute glaze colors to half of the class first.
So, I asked each of the students who needed a demonstration to ask a friend who had clay out to demonstrate for me until I was done with the glazes.

Well, lets just say that my 4th grade "teachers" did more than amazing job demonstrating. As I eavesdropped, the language used was accurate, it was caring, it was patient. Of course I grabbed my camera,

I went over to meet with the students who had missed my instruction and realized that there was not much more that I could add in to secure the concepts and understanding of how to build a coil container in a creative way.

It is those moments like those that I cherish. Life feels perfect when I see education at its best in moments that show me that my students can pass along information in this manner.