Anne Duff for Education
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Feelin' the Love at Bloomingdale Elementary

10/5/2017

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     If you need a little love, spend a day with the kindhearted, friendly students at Bloomingdale Elementary.  What a surprise it was when the principal and I walked into a first grade classroom and immediately became involved in the learning of these young people. They had just finished a lesson on vowel sounds and were instructed to match the sound with pictures that had the same sound – cut and glue style. One little girl asked if I could find her scissors; another asked me what picture was that he was holding in his hand.  I watched and helped as they matched the pictures to the letter sound. Interestingly, an olive certainly doesn’t look like an olive when it is only a black outline on white paper. I quickly learned that if I told them what color it would be if we colored it, they then realized it was indeed an olive.  But I didn’t do too well when it came to the picture of an “ox.” After all, “cow” had pretty much the same letter “o” sound they were looking for. I did wonder why the cow had horns, but one little boy pointed out to me that it was an ox. 

     We moved on to a fifth grade classroom where the children were just as inviting.  Two boys were playing memory with abbreviations and the word it stands for.  They were eager to tell me what the abbreviations represented and invited me to play a game with them.  We did a little reading as well and learned that Mars is the red planet, that the solar system of more than just the sun and planets, and that the planets rotate as they move around the sun.

     As we entered each classroom, my guide and principal had no problem being an active participant on “the ground.” She quickly engaged with the children, helped them with their assignments, gave them encouragement and support, and showed an abundance of love to these little people.  She knew each child by name, and it was obvious that she regularly spends time in the classrooms getting  to know each and every student. 

     Visiting schools is the best part of being on the school board. Everyone needs a good dose of a child’s love.  Spending time with these young Bloomingdale students brightened my day and warmed my heart. One little boy even said I was his new best friend!  
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    Letters

    Being an advocate means speaking out for what you believe in.  Sometimes that means stepping outside of one's comfort zone to show support for what you feel is right.  These are some of the letters I have sent to various legislators and newspapers to show my position on public education.

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