Speechless.

Have you ever had a sprout do something wrong, but the execution was so flawless you had a hard time holding them accountable? Recently during Writing Workshop, Martin gave the performance of a lifetime.

During our Writing Workshop, we’ve been talking about how good writers write about what they know. In order to focus on the details of the story, we’re looking at ‘small moments’ in our lives and expanding on all the information we can remember. Most children are doing an excellent job, but a few are having a hard time with the ‘real’ part.

Yesterday, when I knelt down to conference with Martin, I saw lots of detail and action in his picture. He’s really been doing well with staying on task during work time and I wanted to hear about his story and offer him a plethora of praise.

“Martin, wow, look at all the detail, can you tell me about your story?” I began.

As he pointed to his paper, he told me his adventure.

“One day I was outside in my backyard climbing a tree… when I got to the top part of the tree I saw a chipmunk,” he said.

So far, so good. All fairly plausible.

“When I got close to the chipmunk, it got scared and farted on me,” he finished.

Realizing Martin had reached the fantasy portion of his story, I tried to have him explain it a little further to see where he had veered off the path of telling a true story.

“So how did you know the chipmunk farted?” I inquired.

“I heard it,” he retorted. Touché.

“Oh and I smelled it… see these lines coming out of the chipmunk’s butt, those are the stink lines,” he finished as he pointed out the offending lines.

With that, I nodded my head and stood up. I was simply speechless… something that doesn’t happen often.