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BROMWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (214) Telephone: Mr. Jonathan Wolfer, Principal |
4th Graders Give Thanks For Family, Food, Fun
ARE WORTHY OF GRATITUDE
November 23rd, 2000 In two 4th-grade classes in two very different Denver neighborhoods, Thanksgiving means reflecting on the best stuff in a 9-year-old's life. That means Mom and Dad and Christmas and Grandma's homemade strawberry jam. It also means technology, erasers and Aspen. In Meaghan O'Brien's class at Cheltenham Elementary on West Colfax, the kids put it all down in essays. Chantel gives thanks for her grandmas - all three of them. "My Grandma Hallen makes the best jelly in the world," she writes. "My Grandma Mary has cancer, and she's still up and about. She always cooks. She is always concerned about everybody. When I am sick, she takes care of me. "When I can't go around my other Grandma Maria watches me, like the time when I had a sore throat. She makes me menudo so my throat will feel better. Every time we go over she has something cooked. "The thing I love most about them is they all love me." "I'm going to tell you what I am grateful for," Brandy writes. "The first thing is my amazing family. They cherish me so much. They tell everyone they love me, too. My family cares for me so much I can't even explain." Sue Loftus' class at Bromwell Elementary in Cherry Creek North writes letters of thanks to their parents and lists the things they're thankful for on the cornucopia pictures they're coloring. Some of the writing on Katie's paper is so tiny that only she can read it, which she does. "School. Friends. Food. Water. Freedom. Dad. Mom. Entertainment. Scientists. Inventors. Christmas. Technology. Transportation. Sports. Family. Every living thing." Katie includes clocks on her list "because without them, I couldn't tell time. So I wouldn't know when to eat or when to go to bed." She's also thankful for erasers. "Otherwise, if I made a mistake, I couldn't erase it." Not that she makes many mistakes. Kile is thankful for dentists - he's probably the only kid who mentioned that one. Connor Abernathy is grateful for family, love - and Coke and hockey. Colin Tabb gives thanks for Mom, Dad, friends, snow and his Gameboy. "Dear Parents," Erik begins. "I am thankful for all that you give me, you have taught me how to be a good kid and to live my own life with certain things you call 'Life Skills,' some of which make no sense at all, like Poker. Is that really an important life skill?" "Books. Cousins. Uncles. Aunts. Grandparents. Mom and Dad. Gabe - he's my brother. Nikki - that's my dog. Friends. Fun. And school," Natalie reads from her paper. They're not in any special order, she says. "Just the order I thought of them." "There are thousands of things that I am grateful for," Cheltenham's Tabitha says in her essay. But she can't spend all week writing this, so she picks the top three: Her family, which loves and takes care of her. Her car, which takes her places. And her house, which keeps her warm. "My house is like a safe to me," she writes, "because no one has ever broke into it." Nina at Bromwell gives thanks for being smart - she lists both "intelligence" and "my brain." She's also grateful for her school, and she's not the only one. "The reason I am thankful for school is first I could learn different things each day," Brandy at Cheltenham writes. "I could express myself at school. I will be able to have fun at school. You can make new friends at school every day." Teachers say kids this age are famous for their honesty. They speak - and write - from the heart. "Mom, I know you don't think you're the best cook but I do," writes Bryn at Bromwell. "Dad you are so nice to get a headache helping me with my homework."
"When we went to California I liked it the most because Zack and I got to spend the
whole time with you for 6 days," Bromwell student Mackenzie says in a thank-you
letter to her mom. "I wish you never had to work all the time."
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This article is copyrighted by the Denver Rocky Mountain News and may not be reproduced or republished without their permission. You can contact them for further information at the Rocky Mountain News website. We are grateful for their permission to post it here for the enrichment of our school community.
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