pa·tience [pey-shuhns] (noun): the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
The current stretch of sunny days and warm weather may have some of us ready for summer, but we all need to be patient! Our George Grant Mason Elementary students know all about this important word, thanks to yesterday’s character trait assembly led by ENL Teacher Ms. Fowler.
With the morning sun pouring through the windows of the multi-purpose room, Fowler kicked off the event by encouraging students to share with their neighbors a time they remember being patient. After hearing some examples (including the dramatic telling of a lengthy wait on the lunch line), Fowler pointed out one of the most important qualities of patience, “it is not just the ability to wait, but how we act while we are waiting.”
This was the perfect segue into a reading of the children’s poem, “Patience (Herbert the Snail),” which tells the story of a snail Herbert who got himself in or sorts of trouble when he started moving on the “double.” Chanting out loud together, students joined Fowler at the end of the poem by repeating, “have patience, have patience!"
Hopefully those words sunk in, because it is up to them to create a “parade of patience” in the front entry way of their school. Over the next few weeks, students in grades K-5 will be filling out a “Patient People” template, whenever they demonstrate a moment of true patience. Together the pictures will create a collage for all to see while they, patiently, wait in the hallway.
