tres/three/trois/drei

I wish I had more memories from when I was three. I could perhaps give my students better perspective--translate what I know now into something I would have understood/enjoyed when I was in my students' miniature feet. But perhaps that wouldn't be as fun.
What this group of 3s has blown my mind with is the reminder of where we come from and how we start out and how we truly have to experience in order to learn. Three, in my classroom, is an age where letters, numbers and words still blend into one's surroundings as the trees do in a forest. Counting is just listing off words without a one-to-one correspondence with objects. Time and the things we have to make sure we spend ours wisely--a clock, calendar, work hours--do not exist.
Three is an age where there are literal tears over the realization that the first letter in your name might be in another friend's name; you have to share letters of the alphabet.
Every-day items hold great mysteries worth applauding: the star in an apple, a glue stick floats instead of sinks, putting water in the closet stays the same as opposed to putting water in a freezer. The predictions with these "experiments" are endless because, when you are three, there are no limits to what might happen. You might have a dinosaur as a pet. Planting a red bean might grow into Snow White. A princess or even "mommy" might be the great surprise if we cut into a pumpkin, but seeds were just as exciting.
These wonders fill their tiny brains, and those brains take in knowledge like a pool takes in heated swimmers the first day it opens in the already-humid city of New Orleans. It is fast, and it is awesome. Now letters and words stick out like Easter eggs, and we have charts to award stickers for those who find letters, patterns, shapes, rhymes because the hunt is that exciting. We yell "you did it!" to those who count anything or know which month/season/day of the week it is. We have to stop to wave to our shadows everyday or comment on how the clouds make them disappear. They learn like they are getting paid, and even that wouldn't matter because money talk twists up their round faces in confusion.
It is a whole other topic--which qualities I wish we retained from when we are that young to being a bit older--but the ability and, even more, the passion to learn are just fireworks to me. There is so much to see and discover, and I consider myself blessed to cut the apple, point out a letter, plant a seed.