Stowe Elementary School (02/03/10) Day 4

Wednesday 2/2/10 Day 4

This was our last day at Stowe. The principal was out of town at a conference. The building was all ours. As Gramma Carole said it felt like home, we belonged there.

As kids were dropped off, they walked past Magic’s trailer. A parent lifted her little one up to a small window to see Magic. Kathi laughed because Magic is too small to see from the high trailer window.

We had special visitors today, grandmas and great grandmas. One of them said, “This will touch kids’ lives forever.”

Again there were some gems spoken by the students. One girl asked, “Can Magic put on her new backpack?” (Afterwards Kathi told us Magic could but it would be hard getting it off for petting.) One boy made the comment that Magic’s hooves sounded like women in tall high heels.” A girl added, “Pink Ones!” (Magic’s favorite color is pink.)

One student had us all laughing with his answer to the question: What was WindChill’s favorite flavor of yogurt? Some of the kids said vanilla, blueberry, banana. His reply was HAY.

It was an awesome moment when I was talking about telling someone you trust if you see an animal in need or being abused. One girl said she would take a picture with her mind so she could give all the details to the person she trusted. A boy also raised his hand to comment that he would tell someone if he saw a bully hurting a person, but not his mom because she used to take fingerprints and still had her gun and would use it.

During lunch, a 4^thgrader walked into the lounge with a poem he was taught when he was younger. He handed me the paper with a picture of 2 horses walking in water on a sandy beach. The poem: Food, water, shelter, space, and an animal’s habitat is a special place. He had recited the poem during my presentation and I had been impressed. He told us how much he liked hearing about WindChill and petting Magic. He told us that right now the boy who received a Molly the Pony book from Magic was reading Magic’s message to the class. He said with a straight face, “How did Magic write the message. I didn’t know she could write with a pen.” We all kept a straight face until he left. Then Kathi said, “The boy really truly believed Magic wrote that.” A teacher said that is what is so great about kids; they believe what they want to believe.

During lunch the teacher of a first grade class who had the last presentation of the day told us during lunch that the question of the day was if her students were taller than THE HORSE. All but one said they thought they would be taller. They found out they were.

Every time we came back from lunch these past 4 days, we found stacks of student thank you notes, letters, and pictures.

Again Kathi remarked at how excited these kids were at getting pens.

A parent, whose son saw our presentation the day before, came in on our last day to see Magic for herself. She said her son came home last night and talked about WindChill and Magic. Her exact words were, “My son told me everything. He was so over the top and I got excited so I had to see for myself.”

“Thank you for that great performance. I love your bridle Magic. Hope to see you again soon.” said one girl as she gave up her hugging spot to another waiting student.

“Every time I think of WindChill I feel sad.” said one boy.

“Will you come back next year?” One girl asked Magic as she left the room.

Lastly we will all remember the little girl who came in to see Magic and asked her mother where the horn was. She thought Magic was not a real horse unless she had a horn like a unicorn.

One teacher said she can imagine when the kids are older and look back at their elementary years; this will be the highlight they remember

I will always remember the little boy who had never touched a horse before. He was in the lunch room waiting in line to get his tray of food. I was behind him. He asked if I was getting something to eat. I said yes. He said”Good because you said you get cranky when you do not eat.” He also told me I could sit with him in the lunchroom. Kathi was behind me and cracking up. She was so touched that he was so concerned that I get something to eat.

Even Gramma Carole was a celebrity in the lunch room. Students came up to talk to her about Magic. One boy told her he put his Legacy magnet on the fridge as soon as he got home last night. “

I know Janitor Dan will remember us fondly after 4 days of being pranked. Janitor Dan was very, very wise to the false alarms on the 4^th day. However there was a break in the 5^th grade presentation as Magic swished her tail and went out to the trailer to take care of her business. This gave me time to explain to the 5th graders that they would have to think of something really innovative to convince Janitor Dan that finally what he expected all along would happen, did. Well they did the job because he came running with a big orange shovel and a broom only to find out false alarm again.

Kathi and Magic, Polly, Trish, Kathy J. Gramma Carole and I put in some long hours. However we all agreed it was worth it. We may get misty-eyed when talking about our fond memories of the 4 days we spent at Stowe Elementary. We will never forget the squeals of delight and gasps of wonderment, from both boys and girls of all ages, the teachers, the janitor, and yes the principal, as they caught their first glimpse of Magic coming out of her trailer. There was the vivid contrast of her thick rich reddish brown winter coat standing out against the white snow, the breeze gently blowing her mane and forelock, giving the kids a good look at her cute face, with her big eyes, and her white snippy nose.

Our hearts are full of gratefulness as we were given as much as we gave. There is nothing like seeing a young child give Magic a hug from their loving heart. There is nothing like hearing over and over again that this program is what the kids needed. There is nothing like being told by staff that you don’t have any idea of how powerful you are in getting WindChill’s message across.