Local kindergarten teacher leaves comforting message for her students
TEXARKANA, Arkansas — Even with the coronavirus still lingering, Skye Do, a local kindergarten teacher, learned how to chalk up a new experience last week when it came to showing love for her students.
Rather then just staying home owing to the Covid-19 sheltering, Do, who’s taught kindergarten students at Trice Elementary School for at least the last eight years, decided to boldly venture outside with a box full of colored chalk Wednesday afternoon. Her mission: To leave each of her students a written message of love and reassurance.
Do’s mission turned into a two-hour journey to nearly all of her 19 students’ homes throughout Texarkana. Arkansas. At each stop, she left inscriptions which usually stated “1, 2, I Miss You,” “1, 2, I Love You” and “You are the Apple of My Eye” on pavement near the front porch of each home. The messages also included her signature.
”I love my students so much I just couldn’t stay at home,”she said. “As a kindergarten teacher, it’s real easy to get attached and connected to the kids you teach. I just made up my mind that I was going to do this because I just wanted to communicate with my students and let them know that I’m thinking about them. As a teacher, I get to spend seven-to-eight hours a day with them and when I’m not able to do that, it leaves me feeling empty.”
Do’s quest to leave these messages took her to a range of Arkansasside residential areas, including the historic Beech Street and Pecan Street areas, as well as Belmont Street, Creek Bend, Forrest Wood, Genoa Road, Line Ferry Road and at the Pecan Point Apartments off Arkansas Boulevard.
“About half of my students were at home, so I got a chance to see some of them through the front windows,” she said.”The house on Pecan Street used to be the house where I went to take piano lessons when I was in the second grade. I loved seeing my students and I miss them very much.”