It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

The assignment was to write a fable:

I was a little kid. My mom sang a song. "Jeepers, creepers, where did you get those eyes?" It was dark. I used to cry and go to the bathroom a lot. Teddy was scared too. I ran into my mom's room. She told me to get out of her room. I say, "I'm sorry Mama." I don't want to be in the dark. My brother asks can he go in there an watch TV. I say, "That's not fair." I always tell my dad I had to be in the dark. He got mad. He told Teddy to go to sleep with me. "Not in my bed," Toby said, "Move. I need some room. Scoot over." I said, "It's my bed, you scoot over." And then we fell asleep.

This was, with a few spelling and punctuation corrections, what one of my fourth graders turned in. This is a kid who gets into a lot of trouble. The fact that he finished the assignment at all was a complete triumph for him. And me.
Now we both have two weeks of vacation. Time to spend away from school. Time to spend with our families. I know I need the break, but going back will be a little easier now. It will be easier because, in spite of the fact that I gave him only three out of four points for not including a moral on his fable, I know that I still have a lot to learn.