As part of the never-ending pursuit of getting children to read and ENJOY it, I started a trivia contest for the entire month of March.
Each week there was a new set of trivia questions hidden around the school about the most venerable of authors, Dr. Seuss. The students were encouraged to find the answers to the questions, and the first three students from each class to show up with all the answers could come to the library and grab a prize out of The Cat in the Hat hat.
Most of the prizes consisted of things like frozen milk bars from the cafeteria, Dr. Seuss pencils, checking out extra books, etc., but one prize that many of the children wanted was the chance to be “the librarian.” When one of my 2nd graders indeed won this coveted prize, the conversation went something like this.
“‘Max’ (not his real name), you are going to be the librarian for the day. Do you know what that means?”
“Sit in your chair?” (I have a special story-hour chair that I sit in to read to them.)
“Yes, but you can also sit at my computer and check books out to your friends.”
“Sit in your OTHER chair?” (Eyes light up.)
“Yes, you can sit in this chair also.”
“On your side of the desk? In your chair?!”
I was beginning to get the idea that all I had to do to get these children to behave was to stick a chair in the middle of the room and say “sit” and they would be perfectly happy.
When the day came, “Max” was a star. He politely took everyone’s book, scanned it with my barcode reader, handed them back their books and said, “There you go sweetie,” which is my standard response, and evidently he just assumed that this was a part of what librarians have to do. As they were leaving the library, he smiled and waved at them and finally gave up the chair and went on his way back to class.
Little things excite children, and sometimes I wish as an adult I still had that same sense of excitement. Macaroni and cheese for supper – woohoo! A video with popcorn – wow! Staying up late to watch that video – awesome! A new book to read before going to bed – the best! (OK… I’ll admit I do still get excited about that one.)
God wants us to get excited about the little blessings that we receive every day also. He must rejoice when he hears, “Wow, look at that sunset.” Or, “Smell this flower, it’s divine.” Or even, “It’s snowing!” (OK… that’s probably just me again.)
Today as you are going through your day, I encourage each of you to approach it as a young child – one who thinks that sitting behind a desk is “fun” and wants to share that excitement with everyone around him.