M is for Memory

I do some of my best thinking in the shower. It's the one truly quiet moment of my day. I'm usually the first one awake in the morning, so while the rest of my family is still snoring beneath the covers I'm starting my day with my brain working overtime trying to solve the world's problems.

Okay, maybe not the problems of the entire world, but at least the part of it that I'm in charge of...my classroom.

There is a little girl in my classroom, she is one of the sweetest little girls I have ever come across. She's exceptionally kind to her friends, always has a smile on her face, comes from a wonderful home with parents who read to her, work with her, and truly care about the success of their child. She listens during lessons and tries hard to finish her work the best that she can, but for whatever reason, she's struggling to remember the letters and sounds I have introduced.


There is just a connection that is not being made. I've tried different strategies, her parents are working with her at home, but it's just not "sticking" for lack of a better term.

So there I was in the shower thinking about her...and then I remembered something!

On Friday while in line to go out to play she asked me to tie her shoe, as I knelt to do that she said, "Mrs. Collins, you smell just like my mom." Then later that same day, after blowing her nose, she gave herself a squirt of hand sanitizer then said, "That stuff smells like my doctor's hands!"

Wow! Who doesn't have scents that bring us right back to a place or time? Smells that remind us of people we know or knew? Jergen's lotion reminds me of my grandfather, Polo by Ralph Lauren reminds me of the big man on campus at college, incidentally I'm pretty sure he took a bath in that stuff, the smell of Johnson's baby powder brings me right back to changing diapers when my boys were babies and when I smell Coppertone, I'm baking in the sun at the local beach.

So there I was...in the shower, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, the same shampoo that reminds my little cherub of her mom. So, I thought what if I somehow match each letter to a scent? The letter O smells like oranges...B like a banana! If certain smells help her to remember, I'm willing to try. It might get a little tricky somewhere around the letter Q, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!
Wish us luck...I'll keep you posted!



"Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived." ~ Helen Keller