The Crossing Guard Chronicles: The ‘Morning Star’

Photo of planet Venus (tiny spec) above town high school 12/20/18

The students and I have been fortunate to have the planet Venus looking down at us as we make our way to school, or, as in my case, do my school crossing duties.

It’s dark enough in the morning to easily see this planet, the second in our Solar System and about 50,000,000 miles from earth at this time.

It’s presence offered us an opportunity to talk about the planets, the 8 major ones, and we listed them. Of course, these kids generally knew about poor Pluto being downgraded from a major to a sub planet because of its size.

The exciting part of working with kids is their genuine interest in the world around them because they’re discovering new things that we adults often take for granted. Also, it reminds us of what it was like to be a kid at one time.

Wherever you are, look up, down and around your own environment. Then, share your discoveries with others and get them excited, too.

Steve

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srbottch

Retired in 2013 after 5 years as an elementary school teacher and 40 years as a sales representative to begin anew as a school crossing guard. SMy essays/stories are a way to communicate through the telling of personal experiences. One reader said about my blog stories, "...these are like a cold sip during a marathon run, simple, real life events". Another offered about my blog, “it brings some sense of normalcy not easily found in the modern world.”

42 thoughts on “The Crossing Guard Chronicles: The ‘Morning Star’”

      1. I often think it would be good to zoom onto fellow bloggers’screens ( be they big computers or tiny phones ) and SEE how our blogs actually look by the time they get to the other end! Have a lovely Christmas.

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  3. Steve, you never cease to amaze me with your enthusiasm for teaching the children. I read somewhere that Pluto had been reinstated as a planet but I am not sure if it is true. I will have to look it up. Have a wonderful Christmas and all the best for 2019.

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  8. Amen Steve! It is all too easy to lose sight of the simple pleasures in life when life sneaks up on us with the baseball bat and takes a swing. My prayer for the coming year is that we all have fewer batters and many more simple pleasures.

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  9. Beautiful shot of the planet, Steve. I spend more time now as an older person looking at the night sky than I did as a child. I think I’ve rediscovered that sense of wonder as well. I got a shot of the solstice moon on the 21st that was awesome for me to see. I don’t remember a soul, in school or out of it that inspired the way you are doing with your crossing kids. Making them think. Keep it up. WordPress has a preview button where you save your drafts that I can see what my posts look like before I hit publish to make sure how the photos look. I look at that several times as I make corrections because it gives a different perspective. Merry Christmas.

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    1. Such a wonderful comment. I sincerely appreciate those nice words, esp about the kids. As I mentioned in my post, it’s so easy to look around, see what we see, then share it with others, small, medium or big people. With the kids, they react diffère because some of the stuff I talk about may be the first time for them and their reactions are rewarding. Have a very Merry Christmas. I hope you get out and feel the refreshing cold air. And if you want to see some poems I memorized for fun and exercise (mental kind), go to YouTube and look for ‘srbottch’. My delivery isn’t the best but the poems are good ones, including ‘The Night Before Christmas’. 😉

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  11. Reblogged this on A Teacher's Reflections and commented:
    Steve the Crossing Guard works his magic again with children in this wonderful post. His last sentence is a powerhouse. I have included it in my stash of favorite quotes. Einstein, move over.

    I got an email from Steve this week titled, “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.” It reads:

    You know that song from ‘Oklahoma’. Well, it was a magnificent January morning at the school crossing today. I remarked to the kids that it was and that it reminded me of a song from a Broadway show. Then, I proceeded to sing it while we were crossing.

    Y’know, the younger kids liked it but even the high school kids did. There was a lot of energy at our crossing this morning. Keep in mind, that these kids come in waves or small groups of 2 or 3. So, I sang it about a dozen times.

    It was terrific. I was really stoked this morning.

    Have a great weekend, Jennie.

    Your friend,
    Steve

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  12. I just found your blog via Jennie. It is terrific that you are welcoming the children to school as they cross your intersection with curiosity and enthusiasm and astronomy and music! Thank you for sharing these stories with the rest of us.

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    1. I’m so glad that you enjoyed it. We cover ‘all the bases’ at my ‘curbside classroom’, including baseball, itself. Thanks for your gracious comments.

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  15. Great advice, Steve. I wish every school and every corner had a crossing supervisor like you. Then we’d all sing, every day, “Oh what a beautiful morning!”
    Have a fantastic year. 🙂

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