this post is dedicated to A.H., whose cleverness and sincerity make me deeply proud to know such wonderful people
I’m easy to please.
Which is good, because as a teacher and as a mom, I can’t wait for big grand gestures to bring me a sense of satisfaction or well-being. I’d be here all day.
No, joy comes to me in small pockets:
-The sounds of cicadas humming
-A dog who insists on curling up at my feet because I’m her person
-A plate of scrambled eggs and toast on a hard day
And what filled my heart to bursting today?
Some of you who have read my posts before know that I’ve been pen pals with some of my loveys. It’s been a wonderful way to stay connected during a difficult time. I started with about a dozen or so, then it trickled down to correspondence with about five kids by the time school ended. Summer…not so much.
Lo and behold, one of my former students has continued to write to me. What a joy it was to receive her letter and read it today.
I was most excited that my pen pal letter today contained this:
It’s an invitation to play the game “What is This?”
You see, way back when, about five years ago, on the very first day of our group, I introduced a game to this girl and her friends. The game has been around, but I don’t know its actual name. I call it “What is This?” Here’s how to play:
-Start with an ordinary object (toothpick, pencil, scissors, roll of tape).
-The “starter” holds the object.
-Someone asks the “starter” what it is. “What is this?”
-The starter says EXACTLY what it is – “This is a _______ ,” then hands it off.
-The next person says, “No, it’s not a ____. It’s (makes up some imaginative idea for what it could be).”
-The object gets passed and re-branded throughout the group.
One rule is that the object has to possibly be used for that purpose, even if it’s silly. I could pretend a pencil is anything – a rocket ship, a pizza, a computer. But that’s not what this game is about. This game forces me to look at form and function. At shape and material. That pencil really could be a baseball bat for a rabbit. A back scratcher. A dart. A nose picker.
Every day, we as teachers do activities for fun, for enjoyment, for learning, never quite knowing what kids carry with them. We don’t often get the privilege of finding out what our loveys remember from our time together. Yet here is one of my kids, thoughtful and creative enough to remember this game and figure out how to start up a round together even though we’re apart.
It’s quite possibly one of the cleverest ideas I’ve seen in a long time, and I’m still smiling about it.
In case you’re wondering, the answer is yes. I took that paper clip, taped it on to my own letter, and I wrote my response.
Are you feeling creative? Do you have something else this paper clip could be? I’d love to see it below in the comments.
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 
I love this game!
I may send this question to one of my pen pals! Thanks for the smile and the post.
Let me know what happens! It *is* a fun game.
Lovely game… And you are so lucky for being pen pals with your students. I always wanted a pen pal or atleast an email pal but i got none.
Thank you, Priya! I put out the offer for students to become pen pals this year too,, but no one took me up on the offer. Perhaps it’s because the students have had much more interaction with me and their teachers already this year? I’m not sure. But I sure do miss those letters!
Yeah right Lainie… there’s something about letters. When we re-read them, it brings back so many happy memories.
Absolutely! And it tickles me to think there’s a chance one of my students could save one of my letters and think of me fondly.