it's the little things...

it's children's day here in guatemala, and in honor of that, i gave each of my students a pencil and a little tiny page of stickers yesterday before we dismissed them.  on the back of each little page of stickers, i'd written hastily "happy children's day" in black ballpoint pen.  the pencils were from the dollar bin at target and i think i found the stickers in my desk this year :)  grand total cost of the endeavor: about 20 cents (USD) and five minutes.

i taped the pencil to the back of the sticker mini-page and put one in each of their cubbies.  you woulda thought i gave them a loaf of gold or something: they were so amazed when they found them, i heard so many thank-yous (said on their own volition) and got a healthy amount of thank-you hugs.  one girl happily announced, "i'm going to put this in my collection of pencils that have designs on it."

for kids who get ipods for christmas and birthdays and sitting through dinner and taking showers, and for children who have opportunities to take helicopter rides to in-country vacation destinations, this amazed me thoroughly.  for cereal?  it was a 10 cent pencil from target (albeit a cute pencil) and i think i literally found the stickers, or, i coulda bought them in the states, but probably also from the dollar bin at target.

is this the power that i have as a teacher?  did i do a good job of being objectively stoic in the first six weeks of school that any gift they get from me is a triumph?  (for the record, i was probably stoic for the first six minutes of school.  that's not my style.  i'm a goofball, and they know it.)  or do elementary kids (thankfully) still love us and think so highly of us teachers that a cheap dollar bin gift has a "wow" factor?  or are pretty pencils and fun sea creature stickers still the rage, for any age?  i'm thinking the last option.