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A few weeks ago, my second grade class celebrated bring a special stuffed friend to school day. I took a precious dog that Alex had given me a while back after spending one night with him at the hospital. I shared with my class all about Alex, showed them his picture, explained a little about his accident and how special he had become to me, and how he had given me his dog. They asked if the dog had a name. I didn't know but promised to ask Alex the following week when I went to visit. Well, I forgot. When my students reminded me, instead of writing a note to myself to remember, I decided to turn it into a writing lesson and I had each of my students write Alex a letter. Knowing Alex as I do, I told them that they could ask him anything they wanted to know. And they did. Questions of course about the dog and did it have a name, all about sports, being in a wheelchair, going to school, brothers and sisters, and even a few about Mrs. Bartoe. Last night, I took the letters to Alex. He was thrilled. After reading each one himself, he decided he would write one letter back to the class answering all their questions. Here is what Alex dictated to me, word for word, including where to put exclamation marks. It is so Alex.
Dear Second Graders,
My dog doesn't have a name. It is a boy dog. No, that dog is not my favorite dog. I have too many stuffed animals to count. I have one dog. His name is Doggie. He is my favorite dog. He went with me every trip to the hospital.
I do not play sports right now, like other kids play. My favorite sport is hockey. I like pretty much every sport, except scoccer and baseball.
My wheelchair is dark blue. I have a joy stick that I move with my chin. It is broken right now. But when it works I'm dangerous with it, because I can do anything with my chair. I can put my feet rest up. My feet rest are big things that hold up my feet because I cannot hold them up myself right now. I can move my seat up in the air. I can go around in circles. My mommy ties the hockey stick on my chair and I move my chair to play hockey. My daddy throws a football and I move my chair backwards to catch the ball in my lap.
My last name is Malarkey. My birthday is April 11th. I am 8 years old. I am in 3rd grade. I do school at home on line on the computer and in books. I am really in public school, I just do it at home. I do history, music, math, art, science, literature, language skills, and spellling. Mommy and Daddy are my teachers.
I am the oldest child. My brothers are not close to being bigger than me, not even the same size as me. My next younger brother Aaron, is 6. My baby brother Ryan, is 2. My sister Gracie is 4. Me and Aaron play games alot on tv. We are very blessed to have a PS2 (play station 2) and a game cube and a big screen tv. My sister is very very very entergetic! Ryan is very very very little compared to me. He climbs everywhere!
About Mrs. Bartoe. First of all, I call her Miss Melody. Second of all, she has been by my side for a little over 2 years. She slept at the hospital with me and prayed over me. She is a little technologically challenged. But she is getting better. I missed her last week when she was sick and couldn't come. Miss Melody is a horrible powder spreader. One day when I was in the hospital, I peed and Miss Melody was spreading powder on my diaper and she sprayed powder in the air. And it was so funny I peed in my pants again after that.
I want to thank you guys for your letters asking me these questions. And I want you to know, you can ask me questions any time you want.
Then holding the pen in his mouth, Alex signed it. And afterwards told me to make sure that I showed his signature to my class.
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| 2007-02-06 18:19:12 |
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AMAZING!! I have the chills! i am just so amazed to see how well alex is doing! once again- he is an inspiration to ALL! thanks for sharing miss melody! 
miss you all a ton -
tracy
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| 2007-02-07 22:02:36 |
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DianaH
Member
Registered: 2005-02-01
Posts: 684
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This was such a NEAT project, Miss Melody!!! Such a GREAT idea!! Good for all the kids and Alex!!! Loved it!! and THANKS for sharing!!!! Way to go Alex......and "classmates!!"
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| 2007-02-10 00:29:45 |
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Copyright 2002-2004 Rickard Andersson
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