I popped into a kindergarten class. I love kindergarten.

I checked in with the teacher, Amy. “I just don’t feel like I can get to all of them. Can you meet with these kids and just make sure they are taking time to pick a piece to publish?” she asked me, handing me a post-it with a list of names.

I had been in this class sporadically over the past few weeks and had been impressed with the How-To books the kids were writing. I loved seeing the variety of topics they considered themselves experts on from “How to Make Fried Chicken” to “How to Write a Book.”

I called over a few kids and as I waited for them to meet me at the designated spot, I jotted a quick anchor chart to guide our work, wanting to meet the goal that Amy gave me.

G and L came over first. I told them that our goal for the day was to choose a book to publish. I pointed to my list and read each item. As soon as I read, “Pick a favorite” G was flipping open her folder. “It’s this one!” she said. “Look at how beautiful it is,” she said.

“Can you read it?” I asked.

G began to read aloud. L listened in. “But you didn’t tell how to do that part…”

I quickly diverted L to finding his published piece, quickly realizing that his how-to pieces were much more technical. He chose a “How-To Draw a House” piece without much hesitation. In his book he instructed his reader on each shape that needed to be drawn to draw a house with two windows and a door.

G and L spent just a few minutes with me before they were getting back to their snacks and I had two new students at the table, N and H. Again, N knew instantly which was his favorite book. “How-To Play Mario Wonder.”

“Are you sure this is your favorite?” I asked.

“Of course,” he replied. “Look at all my spaces,” he said, pointing to how easy his words were to read on each page. He quickly read his piece, a smile plastered to his face and then he too was off.

H was not as fast in choosing his favorite piece. He carefully took out each of his books, reading the titles out loud. “How about the fried chicken book?” I asked.

“That’s not my best,” he said going through his pile one more time before triumphantly handing me, “How to Throw a Basement Party.” I hadn’t seen this one before. H opened to the first page. We read the words together, “First, take all the spider webs down.” I smiled as he looked up at me with his own wide grin.

“That’s a great first step!” I said, in awe of where these little minds go.

H kept reading. Stopping when he got to the page when you where he puts the food for the party out. “That’s why you have to take the spiderwebs down…you don’t want the spiders to eat the food!”

I laughed before sending H back to his snack.

I stood and met Amy at the door before leaving. “They knew which of their pieces were their favorites…no problem.” She smiled, I could tell, full of pride.

I love kindergarten. These kids are writers and many of them were not just a few short months ago. These few minutes in kindergarten affirmed for me the beauty and gift that we give these students every day…time to write-to be writers. In turn, the gifts they give back to us are priceless.