By Kalan Gott

Today we visited Chishiko Community School in Chongwe Village. This school was born from a partnership between the community and the Give Life Project. It has been open for a month and consists of two classes. One preschool and one kindergarten. I am a middle school teacher and this was an enormous eye opening experience into the invaluable work of the early childhood educators around the world. They are given the huge responsibility of laying a foundation for literacy. The students in early childhood classes come to school with wide varieties of literacy experiences and levels. Their brains are starving for knowledge. They move constantly-figuring out their world and learning to interact with each other. It was amazing to watch Teacher Doreen and Teacher Bornwell work with their students. Thank you for your service and dedication. And to all of the early childhood and primary teachers thank you for continued work in sculpting and scaffolding the literacy lives of these little learners. Below is my Ode to Early Childhood Educators.

Ode to the songs you sing
the smiles you bring
the hearts you touch
for teaching so much

Ode to the paths you lay
the minds you stretch each day
the energy you exude
for delivering rich brain food