Meet Stella.

She recently had her claws taken out... thus she looks forlorn and a bit perturbed with the world.

Today Fernando wrote me a poem...
Miss Petersen:
black= she is wering black today.
blue= she is wering bleue inside of black.
talle= she is tall like a basball man.
cute= Miss Petterson is cute.

I kept the original spelling.

This morning Fernando said, "I like your hair like that, Miss Petersen." I felt good about his compliment. He seemed sincere and what girl doesn't like to hear affirming words? However, later today in my 6th grade class, one girl interrupted me, mid sentence, to say, "Excuse me, Miss Petersen, can I ask a question?" She proceded with, "Why does your hair look like that? Like you just got out of bed?" I said, "You don't like it, huh?" She said, "No, not really". So my hair style went 1 for 1.

Emulation is perhaps the highest form of a compliment. Yesterday Ana Paula, a third grader, told me that at home she pretends she is Miss Petersen and her little sister is Ana Paula, and "Miss Petersen" teaches "Ana Paula" English, playing the games and doing the activities we do in class.

Here are the kids I work with throughout the day...