Ahhh. Fall is here.
Cool, crisp air. Clear blue skies and pecans bursting from their shells.
This week my fourth graders are writing about fall, and it is so discouraging to me. They don't know fall. They only know themselves and what they want. They don't know fall because they live in hot, sunny Florida.
One girl wrote that she loved cool weather in the fall. And yet, she rambled on and on about knowing it was cool because she wasn't sweating and she wondered why the leaves fall and could someone please tell her.
Of course I told her she was rambling and that she should have chosen a fall topic like Halloween or Thanksgiving or even playing outdoors for her topic. Certainly not "cool weather' because I did not see it in her writing.
I modeled a piece of writing for the class that talked about the crisp, cool breezes, the clear blue skies, the wind, and the pecans ripening and falling to the ground. I tried to create a picture that oftentimes Florida children really don't think about. After all, their images of fall come from textbooks showing kids bundled up in heavy jackets and scarves and diving into collosal piles of colorful leaves.
How can I ever expect a Florida nine year old to have the attachment to fall as I have? How could they ever if all they do is rush home and sit in front of the TV or play video games.
But it does happen. . .once in a while. I will have a student who knows the joy of playing in the cool air, wearing windbreakers and tumbling in the fall leaves or riding dirt bikes with the wind whipping through their hair.
Our leaves don't change color until December, so through my modeling I have to show these Florida children what a Tennessee fall is like. We pretend we're having fall in October.
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