The Milk Makers: A Short Story

8 am on the first day of school, I sat looking around my classroom at walls covered with welcoming art, shelves filled with materials, nestled inside colorful bins adorned with new picture labels, diminishing the curiosity of what’s inside. My eyes shifted to the large oval shaped rug with vivid blocked colors where past students sat during our story time and group writings, trying not to spill their milk on the rug while eagerly waving their hands, in want of answering the question, “ Do you think the man should let the penguin drive the bus?” “What do you think happened to the baby BeBe bird?” I cannot help but to chuckle thinking about a past reading, “The Milk Makers” by Gail Gibbons, when students were asked, “Could you name a food made from milk?” One

I turned to find out what required my immediate attention and looked down in to a round pecan brown face graced with two almond-shaped eyes and a bright wide smile. “My name is Khalil.” “Are you my teacher…?” I responded, “Ms. O’Hara?” He smiled and said, “Yeah that’s it.” “I’m in your class.” I smiled and welcomed him and then we turned our attention back to the others. While parents walked back to the classroom with us and during this time, I gained quite a bit of information about Khalil as he walked beside me, talking the entire way. I found out he is four years old, has a twin brother, can spell his name and count to ten in English and in Spanish. From this short exchange, I knew Khalil would become my student of choice for the literacy project.

Our first session took place during a period of day in pre-kindergarten classroom called, “Choice Time.” I met with Khalil for 20 minutes over in the writing area as he held a big red pencil making lines on a yellow piece of