Noble Academy, a Minnesota Charter School, with special emphasis on the Hmong language and culture, provides a wonderful volunteer opportunity for me. My task is to read books with high achieving 5th and 6th grade students to provide enrichment commensurate with their abilities. There are four 5th graders in my group and my 6th grade group has just been expanded from four to five. It requires no preparation from me and I attend as I am able which means most days I spend mornings there.
Recently the 5th grades read Flipped, a young readers book. It's the story of a boy and girl who grow up neighbors. He has no time for her until junior high by which time she begins to tire of him. Of course, they eventually come together.
One scene in the book amused me...I should say...the response of these ten year old students amused me. The junior high booster club has an old fashioned basket social to raise funds for their activities. All the students vote to select 20 boys who then must bring baskets to a school assembly. Girls then bid on the baskets and the highest bidder has lunch with the boy whose basket they purchased.
These fifth graders had only one interest: what food was in the basket. Neither the 2 boys, nor the 2 girls, could begin to imagine that one would bid on a basket becasue they liked the person who brought it. Even after I pressed them a bit it was only the contents of the basket that mattered. I told them that when they meet me in the hall in a couple of years to tell me if they still think only the food that matters.😜
There are remarkable changes in students between 5th and 6th grade. By 6th grade a bit of "cool" is beginning to show. Their thinking is also beginning to mature. This was a conversation this week with the 6th grade. Serenity (her name) "Mr. Al, what is the point of life if we're just going to die anyway?" Cynthia responded immediately "Serenity, it's about the journey." We talked about it a bit but not much was said improved on Cynthia's response.
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