I walked into third-grade today still laughing from the morning announcement joke, which really set me up extra for finding so much joy with these amazing third-graders.

“Are you coming for Slice of Life?” One asked me, and I said “It breaks my heart to say no, but we are going to have fun doing more literary essay work!”

Another student stopped suddenly in front of me. “How did you get here already?” She said.

“It’s my Slice-of-Life spidey sense, I guess!” I told her, laughing.

They were finishing up their slice of life morning writing as I wandered around, talking to kids, seeing what they were writing about. I stopped at one boy’s desk. He wasn’t writing, instead he was clicking dates on a Chromebook calendar. Click. Click. Click. Click…

“Oooo!” I said. “Are you done with your slice of life? Can I see?”

“We aren’t supposed to share them.” He told me, and went back to his clicking.

I grinned. “Even with teachers?” I asked. Another student at his table explained that they share it with their teachers.

I laughed as I told the story to their teacher a minute later. And she laughed as she said, “I told them not to share the google presentation with people! I’m glad he was listening, but that’s a pretty literal way to take it.”

Soon the classroom was filling with the other third-grade class. We have been co-co-teaching with the three teachers and two classrooms for as many of the literary essay lessons as we can. (Can I call it co-co-teaching? I’d like to.)

The other class brought their books, folders and notebooks with them and as they got settled in, I was chatting with a few of them about their book selections. One student had two Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone books in front of her: A regular paperback, and the fancy illustrated edition.

“Oh! I love those illustrated versions!” I told her.

“I’ve read this,” she said as she pointed to the illustrated version. “But, not this.” She said, pointing to the paperback.

“They are the same book!” I assured her, smiling.

She was not convinced.

“Well,” I clarified, “they both have the same words.”

She looked at me with a critical eye and then started to compare the books page by page. She was a good investigator. She took a careful look at a few pages from throughout the story. I think she believed my theory, but there was something about her expression that made me feel like this had made her rethink so many things about life.

One of the teachers announced to her class, “Remember, we brought our supplies so we can use them later. So for now they should be on the carpet.”

One of her kids said dramatically, “One last hug!” And hugged his book before putting it on the carpet in front of him.

I laughed (again!) and then it was time for writing to start.