Ethan's Note To His Teacher...

This morning while I was getting ready for work, Ethan came in and started telling me about how at school, they changed the sitting arrangements and he now sits next to a girl named Makayla.  He went on and on about how she "chitter chatters all the time, sneezes, coughs and sniffles, in my food" etc.  He clearly was not happy about his new table mate!  He asked if I would talk to Mrs. Hellman for him.  I told him that he needed to do it.  So off he went and came back with a peice of paper and a pen and wrote her a letter.  I wish I could have scanned it, but we were running late and I would have had to try and not let him see me do it.  Anyway, we ran out the door and I didn't really think much of it until I received the following email from his teacher this afternoon:

Hi Brenna,

I wanted to touch base with you about Ethan's letter request this morning. I enjoyed the sincerity of the words and the effort that it took to write it. I did have to deny his request for the moment. While he and Makayla tend to mix it up, Ethan has been asked several times this week to stop talking and get back to work. Makayla really hasn't played a part in that for him. Yes, they do go back and forth with each other from time to time. And I will certainly talk to her about not sneezing, coughing and "suffuling" on his food (I loved that part!). We did change tables last week and I could tell that Ethan was not interested in sitting near her. But…that's part of school, learning to get along with others even when they aren't your best friend.
     Ethan was a little surprised that I got on him for talking without Makayla's involvment. He hasn't been out of control, but as we do more independent work, the children are expected to become more resposible. Since Ethan is so capable of doing the work, he ends up putting greater effort into socializing. And as we've mentioned before, his volume control seems to be set a little higher at times.
     Please let me know if he is terribly distressed by the situation. I did purposely sit him beside Makayla so that he could be a role model at times and lend some support. I will have to do a better job of demonstrating what that means to him. Thank you for having him write to me. It's a valuable lesson for him to learn to speak up.

I couldn't help but laugh when I read this, because I can picture Ethan sitting there and doing exactly what she described!  Essentially, he is my little genius social butterfly:)