I read an article today about a study that shows how doodling helps improve concentration.
Yes yes, I agree wholeheartedly.

I am a serious doodler. Pretty much every paper I touch is graced with a nice little drawing or two or ten.

I have one little student, Linda, who is quite the doodler as well.

She is such a free spirit with wispy flyaway hair and the cutest little mysterious grin on her face/in her eyes.

I lovelove to watch the way her imagination works... The other day I asked the class to draw a bed in a tree (practicing prepositions),

and she drew the coolest tree bed and secret treehouse fairyland complete with animated characters and dialogue I've ever seen.

She is always in lalaLindaland in class, doodling away on her book,

but when I ask her a question she always knows the answer, even when I don't think she's paying a bit of attention.

I have learned when I am teaching not to stand by her desk because she also likes to stick her hand in my coat pocket in search of hidden treasure.

Granted, as a scatterbrain I do have a tendency to put strange items in my pockets at times,

but it's a little distracting to have a tiny hand rummaging through them as I'm trying my best to explain the difference between "this is your nose" and "these are my eyes."

We were listening to Take Me Out to the Ball Game the other day while coloring, and Linda hopped up from her seat, ran to the front of the class and started dancing, confident and smiling widely like she was on Broadway and we were her fortunate audience for the day. SOso cute. :)

First graders are fun.

I love how there is nothing in the world that keeps them from being themselves.