When We Think Hope-ishly
Written By: Liz Morgan
Date: November 4, 2021
On October 21st at 10 AM, I stepped into Ms. Morrow’s classroom at Idalou Elementary School and was welcomed by a classroom of 19 very excited 2nd graders. After everyone went around the room and introduced themselves, they joined me on the rug at the front of their classroom for a reading of “Ish” by Peter H. Reynolds. This is a sweet and inspiring story about a young boy who loves to draw but is discouraged that his works never look exactly right. He is inspired when he sees his artwork through his sister’s eyes and beings to draw and experience his life “ishly ever after."
The kids asked engaging questions about the illustrations, and we talked about how the main character might be feeling at different parts of the story. Then everyone went back to their desks, and we used pipe cleaners to make our own ish artwork and crayons to draw what hope-ish means to each of us.
