fourth grade

I remember 4th grade. I love my teacher- Mrs. Laughlin. She was in her thirties, blond hair styled in a bob. I loved Mrs. Laughlin so much, I worked really hard not to disappoint her. She would get this tone in her voice that would form a lump in my throat, it upset me so. But when she smiled and laughed... It was a much better day.

It was also the first year I really started thinking about 'divorce'. Mrs. Laughlin was in the middle of a divorce, I heard the other teachers and my mother talking about it. She cried sometimes, but otherwise she held it together better than I would've.

Mrs. Laughlin taught me to make no bake cookies. Our class read some story that referenced them. A group of us were give the task of following the recipe and making the batter on a hot plate in the back of the room (good old days). Well, we were not exactly working as a group and I don't think anyone read the recipe. Before you know it, chocolate was burning and sticking to the pan and we were pointing fingers at each other. Mrs. Laughlin was across the room working with a slower reading group. The more advanced readers were in the back of the room, not reading the recipe. She yelled across the room, "What is going on back there?" Dead silence. Then, "Etta are you all following the recipe?" My response was, "I was fixin' to read it..." She said, "Fixin to is not good enough." Horrors! I cried in front of my classmates.

So many good memories with her though. It was impossible for me to learn times tables and most of my classmates learned them in third grade. She took the time to explain them to me and encourage me all the way. She was very earnest in her praise. I hope she knows how much she meant to all of us.

Today was Anna's first day of fourth grade. I hope she has a Mrs. Laughlin too.