Whiteboard Doodles and Children's Smiles

Many months ago, I found myself with some free time while preparing for one of my classes at my elementary school. I always have class with my fourth grade students second period, so I use first period to gather any materials and set up any games I'll need for them. I misjudged the amount of time I would need, and having another five minutes or so before the kids came in, I decided as a spur of the moment thing to draw a little doodle of myself up on the whiteboard to welcome them in.

The kids freaked out. They thought it was awesome, and immediately tried their best to read what I had written up on the board. Then they asked if I was going to draw something next week. I shrugged, and said I'd think about it.

When next week came, I didn't go in my usual 15 minutes or so before second period; I went to the English classroom as soon as first period started. I had decided that I would draw them something again, and it would be one of my favorite things in the world: Totoro.

If I thought the kids had freaked out the week before, they absolutely lost their minds when they saw Totoro. They started jumping up and down they were so excited, and again, just like the week before, they tried their best to read the English words I had written along with the drawing on the board. They didn't have the heart to erase it, so the sixth graders saw it in 4th period (they hadn't seen the one I'd drawn the week before), and they freaked out almost as bad as the fourth graders. They did a lot better at reading the English though, lol. As the sixth graders laughed at their teacher trying to mimic my drawing with a red marker, I realized that this was something I had to continue; the kids enjoyed it too much not to keep doing it. It's been quite a few months now, and my kids expect to see a drawing on the whiteboard as soon as they come into the room. I also have many requests from the kids, more than I think I'll ever be able to finish. I've been posting the drawings on facebook, but again, not all my family and friends use facebook, so I decided to start putting them up here as well. Blogger also allows me more words to tell the stories behind and reactions to each of my whiteboard doodles. I hope you all enjoy them, and look forward to more to come! (Also, as always, click on the images to embiggen them.)