Morning in Kindergarten. Sunlight filters through the blinds, illuminating backpacks and lunchboxes, untied shoes, stuffed animals, toys and rows of books. The students sit at their desks, hands folded and paying attention. Or, maybe, daydreaming and playing with the colorful eraser stuck on the end of their pencil, wishing recess time would hurry up and come.
I'm at the board, teaching the week's spelling words. In Kindergarten we get the short words: top, an, six, run. It sounds easy, but each word is fraught with potential for error. "Pin" sounds a whole lot like "pen" and which side of the line do you put the round shape on (p/q)? "I" only has one letter, but if you write it in lower case (i) it's wrong, because it stands for a name!?!? And "but," well, that's just funny. I tell them that it doesn't mean "bottom," it means "however." Of course, I won't tell them how you actually spell the butt that means bottom, so they're suspicious.
It's easy, though, when we get to the word "dog." Most of them already know this one. Even as I speak the word for the first time, "dog," a little hand flies up. Oh, she's excited! Lizzie knows this one and can't wait to tell all of us. I'm thrilled with her enthusiasm as I call on her, expecting her to spell it for us. "Yes, Lizzie?"
"Mrs. Lynch," she says. "Did you know that if you put DOG backward, it spells ... LORD."
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