What are you thankful for?

For my last official class period with my darling Grade 7’s, I decided to give them a math break and do a little Thanksgiving celebration. It seemed the right platform to segway into my goodbye cards since I won’t see them much from here on out. I started with having all of the kids put the desks in a circle so that we could all see each other. After giving a mini (abridged) lesson on Thanksgiving, I explained that I wanted us each to write down two things we were thankful for. Afterward, I would collect them and re-pass them out so each learner ends up with someone else’s thankful thoughts. The first thing I noticed about this activity was that they were SO excited. I think just moving the desks into a circle formation was super exciting. I am really going to miss that enthusiasm when I go home…

After writing their thoughts and exchanging papers, I said that each person would stand up and read the two things on their paper. Then I showed that I had a card for each person along with a brand new pencil to write their math exam with. This last statement literally got applause. Applause. For a pencil. It’s the little things J

I turned on some quiet music through all of this and we really treated it as a final shout-out to each learner and a goodbye to me. We clapped for each kid (even whistles and the traditional Owambo “shrieking” as I would call it) and made our way around our circle of thanks.

I would like to share some of their thoughts with you because some were extremely insightful, some were extremely practical, and others were just funny. Here are some examples of the things they wrote (the first two are mine):

· I’m thankful for my feet for bringing me all the way to beautiful Namibia.

· I’m thankful for all of my Grade 7 learners because they are some of the most special people I have ever met.

· I am thankful for my family because they take care of me.

· I want to thank Miss Hannah for being here with our class this whole year.

· I thanks for all my parent are alive.

· I thank for God give me leg to go to school.

· I am thankfull for my family didn’t past away.

· I am thankfull for my shoes that cover me on bloken (broken) bottle.

· I am thankful for my dog.

· I thankful for my school shoes.

· I thank for school because they teach me something I can’t know.

· I thank for my family because they always help me when I was young.

· I thank God for give my gift he give me legs, eyes, and arm so that I can see, I can walk, and I can hear.

· I am thankful for my brain.

· I thank God for give me memory so that I can think and pass my grade.

· My mother who pay for me a school fees.

· I thank my father who pay for me a school shirt.

· I thank for given life.

· I want to thank America for Miss Hannah.

· I am thankful for movies.

· I am thank Miss Hannah because he teach me math.

· I thank my family because they are the one who take care for me.

· I thank my teacher because they are the one who teach me to read and write and respect parent.

· I thankful for my mother who born me.

I obviously have a lot to be thankful for this year. Thank you for caring about me enough to read this. I am so thankful for this experience as well as thankful for being home in exactly 3 weeks.

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday season. Remember what the holidays are about this year and be with the ones you love.

Love,

h