children are our future/my bestie is a badass.

While in DC last weekend, I got to spend some quality time with Megalina's kindergarten class + in that afternoon with eighteen five-year-olds, I came to the conclusion that my best friend is an {educating} badass.

You (devout readers) may remember my awesome experience when I visited Megan's classroom in her first year of teaching with Teach for America and since that lovely day where I got to read a book about bones to her class, she has finished her two-year run with TFA {badass}, received her masters in early childhood education {badass} + is now part of a huge movement in education {double badass}!!

Her current school made headlines last year when the entire staff was fired by Chancellor Michelle Rhee and while Megan knew she would be coming in to an inner-city school in the District, she had no idea which school she would be teaching at when she signed on for the job... a HUGE job at that!

Megan's school is following a curriculum + establishing a culture that maximizes the learning to be done + I am certain that in five years (when they benchmark the success of the program!) they are going to see Megan's kinderbabies excelling above + beyond grade average!

Look! It's me, a {finger puppet} nurse! =)

Part of the school's mission is to get kids thinking/excited about college + engraining the idea of continuing their education long past elementary school in to their tiny, spongey minds. The theme of her classroom is FSU (Megan's alma mater) + they sang the entire FSU fight song for me! It was melt-your-heart presh! =)

They built me a "hospital for babies!" Lovesit!! =)

A modern-day Picasso. One little boy drew a portrait of me in Orange + Blue! FSU... whaaat??!! While I'm glad they are excited for college, I had to inform them of a university near FSU that was even more awesome!... the one I think Meg+Danny's kids will chose to go to! =)

Learning how to write stories... I know you're not supposed to pick favourites but if you could only see his dance moves...

soo tired at the end of their long day... I was exhausted too!

I learned a lot in their little classroom. Not just how to add pennies, nickels + dimes or sound out words but the intangible lessons, too. Don't bring toy guns (that look a lot like real guns!) to school. If you want children to learn something, change the words to the latest rap song and your point will be beautifully conveyed. Don't punch people in the eye. Goldfish + animal crackers are perfect rewards. But most importantly, if children are our future... the foundation established in Ms. Lucas's classroom looks incredibly bright!! =)