Although fourth graders are still childlike, there are some very grown-up thoughts and questions that come from them. I have thoroughly enjoyed the discussions that have taken place in the past school year! I could gush on about my class for awhile, but I shall just say this:
I am proud of each of them and the progress they have made this year.
Here are several questions/thoughts that have been discussed.
“What will be added to our classroom’s timeline of the world in the next one hundred years?” (Here’s the answer that one of them gave: Donald Trump.)
“How can we be sure that every single part of the Bible is true if people wrote it down?”
“How can I forgive her when I am so mad at her and she hurt me so much? She doesn’t deserve forgiveness.”
“Will we recognize people that we know in heaven?”
“Why is the word collection singular?”
“How do you diagram a prepositional phrase?” (That’s not something that they are taught in fourth grade curriculum. They just wanted to know!)
“Now that I understand diagramming, I just want to diagram all the time!” (Good gracious, I never dreamt that I would have children who love to diagram. It has been FUN.)
“How do you know if your prayer is selfish or not?”
“Why do bad things have to happen? Why have so many happened to me? I’m afraid that more bad things will happen.” (Fourth graders already know that life is far from perfect.)
“Is it okay for a Christian to lie to protect someone else?”
“Sometimes, even when I could go on the internet, I choose to play outside.”
“I don’t really want to be mad anymore.”
“Are you going to say nice things about us at our celebration the way Mr. Martin did about his students at the grade eight graduation?” (Proving that 1) they were paying attention while we were at the grade eight graduation and 2) they thought that it would be nice to have their good qualities pointed out to an entire group of people. So very human of them.)
“Can you be a Christian if you can’t remember when exactly you became a Christian?” (You try to answer that one.)
“Will the people at my old church go to heaven?”
“Can God actually move a mountain?”
“Why does s make a noun plural, but a verb singular?”
A memory trick for the students, by the students, for how to spell Hawaii: Split it into three parts. Ha- Someone mean is laughing at someone. Wa- The person cries because they were laughed at. ii- The two dots on top of the i’s? Those are eyes. And the lines underneath them are tears, because the person is crying. (My students are the champions of memory tricks.)
Have I mentioned that I am going to miss these children when summer holidays come?
All of the Words 
Thanks for sharing about your students and your life as a teacher. All the best with those difficult questions. Sounds like they need a course in philosophy too. 🙂
I like that idea- the philosophy course. 🙂
Aw, Jasmine. They take so much love, but they give so much back–don’t they. Maybe, I’ll have to publish a similar post soon, like in two days. Thanks for the inspiration, as the other idea floating through my brain is an entire research paper. (Just what a teacher wants to do in June.)
Yay! I would happily read a post similar to this or a research paper! Or BOTH! 🙂
I would never judge your inability to hang things… seriously – who has that kind of time? 🙂 I have no doubt, that with conversations like the ones that housed these comments, your students are going to miss you too.