22 Boys and Girls Adopt Jesse!

I got to go to Walker Station Elementary School today! On my birthday, back in August, I met Gail Storey for lunch and she asked if her fourth grade class could make Jesse their Class Soldier. I told her it would be an honor if they would do that. Since this Sunday is Veteran's Day, and all this week Gail has been talking to her class about our country and what it means to be patriotic, she asked if I could come this afternoon with some pictures of Jesse to introduce him to them. It's been a long time since I have been in a fourth grade class. I had SO MUCH FUN!

There are 22 children in this class: eight girls, and fourteen boys! Oh my! Would you like to hear their names? The eight girls are: Brooklyn, Brittany, McKena, Sammie, Faith, Briana, Rachel and Kelsey. The fourteen boys are: Andrew, Jacob, Aaron, Kody, Jarod, Jahean, John, Tyler, Austin, Luke, Kory, Collin, Alex and Robby. Such beautiful names and faces!
There is a pretty vast difference between boys and girls at this age. In fact, I never observed it so poignantly as I had opportunity to do today. The girls were all prim and proper, responsible, helpful, and really put together. Some of the boys were also, but many of them were the kind that bounce off the walls -- always on the move -- not quite with the program, if you know what I mean.
Gail is a wonderful teacher. She is very affirming and positive. She is definitely in control of her class; and as a result, she has a good atmosphere for learning.
This is the poster I brought in to show the children who Jesse is and what he does in the Army, as well as pictures of Diana and the kids, and their life at Ft. Bliss. Gail had the children sit down and I talked about each picture and then they asked questions. I'll tell you about that in a minute; but first, let's look around the classroom. You will notice a definite theme on Gail's walls, and if you know her very well, you will understand why!

This is the world map that pulls down
and above the alphabet is something called
The Nautical Flag alphabet (which I had never heard of before)
This wall of lighthouses is titled: "Go Light Your World."
On each lighthouse is a word such as:
Trustworthy, Personal Best, Truthfulness,
Performance, Courage, Active Listening, etc.
These words are explained and the meanings
are emphasized and taught throughout the school year.
This board is titled: "Jobs for the Crew"
You can be chosen for Line Leader,
Board Patrol, Hallway Helper, Lunch Count,
Bucket Organizer, Plant Care, Paper Passers
or Computer Care!
Almost makes me want to go back to Fourth Grade!

This is the Reading Life Savers area
with comfortable pillows inside the boat
for a relaxing time of reading ...
Here is one of the book shelves ...
Wouldn't you love to have this huge world map?
I love maps!
This is one of the outside walls of
Gail's classroom.
Each sailboat has a student's picture,
a list of their hobbies, and their goal for 4th grade!
I didn't have time to read these but
I would like to come back and do that!
When it was time to talk to the children about Jesse, I told them about him joining the Army a little over a year ago because of his need for a job. I talked to them about the truck he drives, how he has been trained as a soldier, a little bit about where he lives and stuff like that. I obtained a good picture of the truck he drives (the HET) from the internet and I had a picture of Jesse that showed how tall he is and explained that the tires on those trucks are as big as he is! The class was very attentive during my brief talk. After all, this was soldier stuff -- this was cool! They posed really good questions about safety and combat, and it was neat to interact with them. One boy wanted to know what would happen if one of the "bad" Iraqi's (i.e. the enemy) snuck inside the tank and shot the big gun -- the tank gun is pointed right at the cab of the truck! Wouldn't there be a huge explosion? Wouldn't Jesse get hurt? I assured him that this was an unlikely scenario ...
Then it was time to make flags. Gail put some patriotic music on the boom box, and each student made a "wavy" flag out of construction paper. These were not "perfect" flags as no scissors were used to cut the stars and stripes. A ripping technique was used and when finished, the flags looked like they were blowing in the wind ... however, I failed to take a picture of the finished result.

Gail had all the children sign the back of one flag for Jesse. They each took their own flags home to hang respectfully in a prominent place, to remember our country.
I'm going to mail Jesse's flag to him inside of the box I am putting together for him for Christmas. A special thanks to all of these fourth graders who have made Jesse their Class Soldier. It was really fun to be with them today!

If I want this Christmas box to get to Jesse on time, I need to have it ready to go by November 13 -- that's only four days from now! I'd best get busy baking ... and shopping!