Just back from a writing session with fifth graders, many of whom are children of immigrants, at Strauch Elementary School in Natomas, California. About 30 exuberant children wrote stories based on some objects I brought into the classroom like a jar of peanut butter, a tea bag, and a red scarf. When they read their stories aloud, it brought smiles to many people's faces including my own. There was the story about a magic tea bag that could take away sorrows. Another one focused on the scarf and how it reminded him of his father and the peanut butter turned into a tale about a person named Skippy.
These children are America's future. They are learning in a classroom that is filled with words and visuals for a better tomorrow and high achieving hopes. I saw t shirts and sweatshirts featuring names of the colleges they represent. The American flag waves overhead as inspirational quotes and photographs are plastered on walls around the room.
It's an honor to meet these young Americans and it's infectious to feel their excitement about learning and sharing their writing gifts!
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I had a lot of fun when you came. Come back to our school again soon!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete~Michelle
Anyone who reads this , I used the basketball
ReplyDeleteI had tons of fun working with Mrs.Panneton.She gives students inspiration to write like they never had before without even trying!!!!I also liked how you told me that even i inspired you[telling everybody to look away from Xitlaly.]I also liked how you had everybody have a nice comment about every story read. I hope you come by next time and have a wonderful week!!!
ReplyDeleteI wish we could do that again!
ReplyDeleteMan i didn't want her to go, we could've been doing that forever!
ReplyDeleteYou Know, I just thought about it, now I can pick any object to write about and find a humourous story about it
ReplyDeleteWow,I hope I get a chance for Mrs.Panneton letting me keep the peanut butter and for also teaching us about the writing that was hidden inside us all along but now that I discovered it,I will use it more often now
ReplyDeleteLOL Adrian. I hope she will come back maybe at THIS WEEK'S TOLERANCE CLUB MEETING!!!!! I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE MRS.PANNETON OR AT A DIFFERENT MEETING IF YOU CANNOT COME THIS WEDNESDAY FOR TOLERANCE.
ReplyDelete-TOLERANCE PRESIDENT
KAELYN KINNAVONGSA
It was great seeing my picture on the blog. You have inspired me to write. i love to write and to hear a funny story. we also hope you can come to our Tolerance club.
ReplyDeleteDoes any body know when she will come back
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that I'm an child of immigrant because you get to learn more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You get to learn different culture and your own. A lot of kids are proud of their parents.Including me :)!!!!!!!!!! I have friends that are Asain like KAELYN KINNAVONGSA aka Tolerance Club Prez. Getting to learn about new things is AWESOME!! Learning English wasnt easy!!!!! Now EASY!!! :)
ReplyDeleteMrs.panneton i have someone you can interview. Sommay Bouttavong[my grandpa] he survived a russian army[he said something else but i asked him russian and he said yea so] who tried to track him down and he fled Laos to the U.S. he's eager to be interviewed. I survived 2 or 3 hours worth of his story. It's amazing!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi please come back!!!!!!>.<
ReplyDeleteThat was cool
ReplyDeleteI hope that Mrs.Pannetron can come back so that we can write more stories about the item we picked.
ReplyDeleteplease come back Mrs.Panneton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >.<
ReplyDeletejudie is very fun,nice,and funny too
ReplyDeleteJudie is older then you call her Mrs.Panetton. Plz come back soon!!!!!!!!!!! >.<
ReplyDeletepatino doesn't accept friend request!
ReplyDeleteMrs.Pannington, Please come to a tolerance club meeting, preferably soon.....
ReplyDeleteyes it's on wednesdays
ReplyDeletePatino
ReplyDeletecome back soon Mrs. Panneton
ReplyDeleteI noe right. never accepts friend request what a lonely person!
ReplyDelete*this comment was never to affend someone. If you are affended, please email your reply at yahoo.com. my username is bootybay956@yahoo.com
i ment Patino. >.<
ReplyDeletewhen i wrote that comment
Really Kaelyn he likes enjoys writing and so do I
ReplyDeleteCan she come back please.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Panneton plz come back soon everyone enjoys writing you've inspired our whole class come back soon
ReplyDeleteI hope that Mrs.Panneton can come back so that we can write more stories.
ReplyDeleteadrian what do you mean him and you. Who's him????????????? Patino?????? i'm confused. anyway i think you guys should just email mrs.panneton about your whereabouts but i won't give away her email.
ReplyDelete*for that personal question, please email me by clicking my name and it should redirect you to my email if not then add me and i'll tell you. my email is bootybay956@yahoo.com same as ever****
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I really appreciate what mrs.panneton has done for us i mean,before she came when our teacher said writing time i was like ughh because i didn't feel like writing but now when my says writing time i get all appy inside because there are so many things in the world to write about and now at home i write all day nonstop just expressing my feelings i mean, i don't even watch tv or play video games because i want to write.plus,writing is so fun you can just write about a boring piece of paper and turn it in to a fun humourous story
ReplyDeletethats true Adrian. you should write more funny stories and share it to the class mrs. liss would probably let you
ReplyDeleteThat would be interesting. You should do it Adrian,at least ask, or I'll make a pop-up to make fun of you.lol
ReplyDeleteI hope that Mrs.Panneton can come back so that we can write more stories
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Mrs.Panneton should come back?
ReplyDeleteBecause I do!
ReplyDeleteI think that david will grow up to be a writer because he can make up very funny stories right off the top of his head.
ReplyDeletethank you
ReplyDeleteI think that Adrian can be a writer too!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteno problem buddy
ReplyDeleteno problem
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part was writing mystory
ReplyDeleteCool. My favorite was adventure.
ReplyDeleteLets do that again when she comes back
ReplyDeletePlease david do you think you can persuade Mrs. Liss to start a writing club/
ReplyDeleteLol that would be sooo cool
ReplyDeletefishcakes
ReplyDeleteI will be president of the writing club!!!!!
ReplyDeletejust kidding we'll have an election if we get to have a writing club
lets persuade her
ReplyDeleteMaybe i'll ask mrs.liss
ReplyDeleteHIHO NOBODYS HOME !!!!!!! =P
ReplyDeleteA writing club would be soooo fun
ReplyDeletemichelle do the math. 27x85+3D8=
ReplyDeleteSince i'm the one who brought it up
ReplyDelete287.25 that's my answer. =P
ReplyDeleteadrian tell kaelyn i said hi
ReplyDeletelike I said, since i'm the one who brought it up i think i should be th president of the united states, wait not that the president of the writing club ,the name is :91210
ReplyDeleteoh plz adrian
ReplyDeletewow adrian.....
ReplyDeletedavid, did i get the right answer????
ReplyDeletewhy do i post a comment so late??????????????? i dont even get to use the computer in school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am very i am african because my whole family is from africa and i would rather be that than inuit or native american
ReplyDeleteMy grandma is an immigrant. She come here from Sweden. She came to America when she was just a kid. Problably 4 or 5 years old.I dont know if she is a citizen,but I know that she hasn`t passed the citizen ship pass a couple times.
ReplyDeleteMy great great great grandfather was from africa because his mom was born there he moved to the us probably when he was 11 years old , I am proud to be african
ReplyDeletewhen your a child of immigrant its very hard for you. my dad he traveld around some of the world he doesnt even know english fluently. my brother and i only speak fluently. they also have accent too. we can help people learn fluent english
ReplyDeleteokay Mrs.Panneton here are the questions i modified beacause my mom doesn't remember a lot so i put it where i used my knowledge from my grandparents some of them aren't modified and notice that some questions aren't answered because I didn't have an answer for it [sorry!]:
ReplyDeleteQ:In what country was your parents born? what are their names?
Sompathana Ramirez Souriya Kinnavongsa
Thailand unknown
Q:Where were you born and what year?
Sacramento,Ca 2000
Q:how many children are in your family and where are you in birth order?
Sommay Bouttavong-61,Xoymany Bouttavong-55,Bob Bouttavong-34,Sommanokhit Bouttavong-31,Sompathana Ramirez-31,Vannasinh Bouttavong-29,Ratsamy May-27,Kinnaly Chow-25,Sourasinh Bouttavong-25,Kaelyn Kinnavongsa-10,Aiden Kinnavongsa-6,Richard Wood-5,Xavier Ramirez-2.I'm the tenth in my family's birth order.
Q:Why did your parent come to the United States?
My mom came here because my grandpa was being tracked down by a certain army.
Q:What do you remember your grandparents telling you about their native country?
My grandpa told me he didn't live in a big city,he lived in the grasslands.He told me there wasn't any restrooms, so they had to do their business in a nearby lake and also get their water source there.
Q:What do you remember about them telling you about the united states?
Q:Some of your memories about growing up with immigrant grandparents-did they speak English ver well-if not,were you an interpreter-what guide roles did you play?
My grandma has improved her English since way back then. She tries to put more English words in each of her sentences but when she hits to a word she can't say, she says everything in Laos. When i interpret for her in Lao it goes downhill because i'm improving on my Lao and sometimes she can't understand me because i have a short vocabulary in Lao.
Q:what were the main were the main messages your grandparents told you?
Kaelyn,do you want to come to Laos with me?
You need to practice the Laos ways and language!
Kaelyn,you want to come to the temple with me?
Q:public or private school-what was it like-friends mostly with other children of immigrants?
it wasn't so bad because you would have a history lesson on a certain individual.
Q:was it easy to make friends-why or why not?
no not really because i had a little accent and people would make fun of me.
Q:How do you relate to people who were born here and how do you think what they thought when people "looked" at you?
i thought they didn't like me because on how i looked
Q:do you feel different than native born americans?
Q: do you feel different as an adult being a child of immigrants than as a child and how-give me an example or two please?
Q: your hopes and dreams as a child growing up in America?
I hope to fingd other Lao kids who are a child of an immigrant and make people feel differently when they see an asian and think she/he is a chinese person.
Q: do you honor your culture and how?
Yes. I honor my culture and by being proud i'm lao and go to the temple with my grandma and pray to the buddha.
Q:food-politics-religion-do they conjur up any memories
and those are the questions for you
love,
kaelyn kinnavongsa
everyone miss their homeland i have a quetion for COI amreicans how hard was it for you and your family when you arrived in United States?
ReplyDeletemy heritage is a really big deal to me because my whole life is based on what i came from
ReplyDeleteI really miss mexico.All the food,toys,games,and other stuff.When I came to california I couldnt speak english all I spoke was spanish nothing else.But then when I started school I learned alot.I ate food I didnt even know what it tasted like
ReplyDeletei miss Laos!!!!!
ReplyDeletei miss asia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMrs.Panneton when i was younger,i didn't know what a immigrant was and i myself, didn't know i was a child of a immigrant. I thought it wasn't named anything but know i know because of you thanks for the knowledge!
ReplyDeletei still miss mexico but still hoping i could go back one day not to live but for like vacation
ReplyDeletei like how people want to go back to their homeland or where their parents are from but i have one question for the people who want to go back. Why exactly why do you want to go back?Is there someone who is back home waiting for you or just to visit?
ReplyDeletewell we wanna go back because we really miss our family and because they miss their culture and their religion
ReplyDeleteWell kaelyn because some people like me we just miss it theres like alot of people that we know over there plus two of my brothers live over there but i wanna just visit not to live
ReplyDelete