Filler Up!

Back to work this week! I was inspired to create this last spring when someone asked me what I do for a living. Sometimes our students come to us with so little foundation. They haven't been taken to the zoo, exposed to play groups, gone on nature walks, or traveled outside of their neighborhoods. These children come from homes that are so socially and economically depressed, that they are starving for information. Their world has been viewed through such a narrow lens that to expect them to come to school fully prepared to absorb reading and math skills is unreasonable.

My job is to expose them to as much information as I can in the short amount allotted. My classroom teachers address their academic needs and I try to fill in the environmental and foundational gaps. I would love to just pull up in a big bus, load them in, and take them to museums, ball games, science centers, and zoos! I would pull into the lots, unload the kids and tell the curators, "Filler Up!" please!