A morning in first and fourth grade Jen and Bill spent the morning at Swigert International School, visiting Clara's first grade class (where students practiced their reading skills with us, one-on-one), and Zach's fourth grade class. What an eye-opening experience! It was simply astonishing for me to observe Mrs. Elliott and Mrs. Kline at work, an incredible mix of guidance, inspiration, joy, discipline... Their focused energy left me feeling in need of a nap afterwards, and their day was only half over. However much they are paid, it isn't nearly enough when you consider the millions upon millions of synapses in young brains that they are shaping. In the Nature versus Nurture debate, they bump up the latter every minute of every school day. 17 images 1. First grade 2. 3. Clara and Jen 4. Clara watching classmate Talia read to Jen 5. Clara reading to Grandpa... 6. ... Addie also read to Bill... 7. ... So did Jack ... 8. ... and Jackson. They were all terrific readers. 9. Clara with her phenomenal teacher, Mrs. Elliott 10. On to Fourth Grade, where they were discussing 'diameter' in math class. That's the awesome Mrs. Kline on the left. 11. 13. The class dispersed into independent groups (one per planet). Here Zach is preparing a circle of the appropriate diameter (25 inches) to be Saturn 15. Teacher's aide (Jen) pitches in 16. Merrit, Sydney, and Zach 17. Tablets were everywhere, used intermittantly and appropriately