"There is no such place."  Billy was shouting at little Becky.  He was playing his usual Bully Billy routine again.  I had to find away to stop it.  I said a little prayer for help.  How do I reach these wonderful little minds?

"Billy, can you come here a minute." I motioned for him to come to me.  He shuffled his feet as he prepared himself for another lecture about being a bully.  "I think I am going to need you to help me today."  That made him go a little faster.

I raise the volume of my voice to be able to reach the ears of all the children in my care today.  "I want everyone to grab their nap mats and come here in the living room and spread out on the floor."  I went and got in my chair.  "Come on Billy, join me.  There is enough room for both of us here."  I watched as the smug look came across his face.  He was special. He had been chosen to sit with the teacher.

I waited until everyone got settled on their mats.  "Do you mind if we lay down?"  Becky, the one who always wanted to follow the rules was laying down on her mat with her arm tucked under her head like a pillow.

"No, it is fine if you want to lay down, but if you fall asleep you may not hear the end of the story."  I saw their faces light up.  "We are going to have a story time today.  Put your games away and come listen to a story.  You can lay down if you want, like Becky, or you can sit up to make sure you stay awake for the end of the story."

"This is a story about a place called Cloud Kingdom.  It is way up in the sky.  You know when you look up, and you can see the sun peeking through the clouds a little.  That is where Cloud Kingdom is, and it is the home of "Can't-See-Ems."  These are tiny little fairies.  It is their job to keep the traffic up there safe for everyone who flies up there.  They also help anyone who gets lost up there.  This story is about one of."

"There is no such place."  Billy shouted out.  "Like I told ya' Becky.  Alice in Wonderland does not exist either."  He rolled his eyes and waited for me to respond.

"Billy, you want to finish the story?  I will gladly join the kids on the floor and let you finish."  I watched as his face turned red.  He started fidgeting with his hands and taking his hat on and putting it back off again.  "I tell you what, Billy.  If I can prove to you that Alice and Wonderland and Cloud Kingdom do exist, will you not interrupt me again?"

"Sure."  He folded his hands in front of his chest and stuck his chin out a bit.  He thought he had just bullied the teacher.

"There is such a place where both places exist."  I continued with an exercise.  "I want you all to close your eyes a minute.  Can you picture Alice, and the rabbit running checking his watch and shouting he is going to be late"?   I watched as each child could picture both Alice and the rabbit.  Now, picture yourself up in the clouds and the sun peeking through just enough for you to see the Can't-See-Ems flitting about.  You can see them showing the ducks which way to fly.  You can see them chatting with little angels that have found someone who is lost.  Can you see them"?  I watched as grins came across all their faces.

"Billy, children.  Open your eyes.  Do you know where you have been?  You have been in your imaginations.  You can go anywhere in your imagination.  It is a nation after all.  It does exist.  I bet you can even see the rabbit hole Alice used.  The best part of your imagination is you can be big, or small, short, or tall.  You can have wings or halos or magic carpets.  You can climb trees, and you can even see wishes come true."

"Billy, shouted.  I see it.  I see it.  Cloud Kingdom.  The Can't-See-Ems are there too.  Wow."  He was getting excited.

"I have an idea."  I left the room for a minute and came back with paper and pencils.  I gave each child a piece of paper and a pencil.  "I want each of you to write down the rest of the story.  Each of you can make the story what you want it to be.  It is up to you what happens when you get to Cloud Kingdom.  Then after nap time this afternoon we will read everyone's stories."

The kids were so excited.  They all got busy, some went to the table to write and some stayed on their mats and used the floor as a desk.  Billy started to giggle. Inside, I too found a giggle as he snatched the paper and pencil from my hand and dashed off to the table.

"Oh, no."  Billy, held up his hand and waved for me to come over to the table.  "If you can't see em, how do you know what they look like or if they are even there"?  He looked so worried that his story would end before it got started...

"Billy." I whispered  "What do you do when you try to look into the sun?  I watched as his mind replayed the question to him.

"I squint."  He seemed pleased with his answer.

"If you squint sometimes you can see things a little better.  Now, if I lived in a land that was almost constantly in sunlight I would have small eyes and I would squint, so I could see better.  I would think anyone else would have to do the same."  I watched as his mouth flew open, and his eyes got big, and he started squinting around the room.  He was amazed at what he could see when he squinted.

"I see now."  He immediately went back to work on his story as if his pencil was trying to run across the paper.  I patted him on the back as I once again watched my little thinkers hard at work playing in their imaginations.

The one and only purpose for a teacher to do their work is to open the imagination for children.  It is from such a nation that they find cures for diseases, build better mousetraps, and create nations of their own.  Each child can go to a place where there are no limitations, no one is better than they are at anything.  All their wishes can come true there.  Hope lives in the imagination because in the imagination there are endless possibilities.  They can picture and actually see their horizons grow and expand.  I love teaching for that reason alone.  I love helping children discover their own "Imagi-Nations."

I whispered to myself.  "Thank you father for showing me the way to reach your children. Thank you for allowing me to remember how my grandmother responded when I told her I could not see Alice because I would not fit down a rabbit hole.  Thank you, Grandmother, for turning on my imagination.

Tags: Children Teaching Imagination