Lev in third and fourth grade

I remember dearly when a person I didn't recognize stood up at the memorial and shared how glad he was to find out that he was in one of Lev's classes. He knew that with Lev there it would be entertaining and fun. Over the years, Lev had teachers that really understood and appreciated Lev's character, and those that just found him annoying.

In fourth grade, I had hired a teacher that was not working out. She had limited patience and sometimes yelled at the kids. It made my job more complex as director since Lev was in her class. Lev, of course, would egg her on and make things worse, just to be Lev and amuse himself, impress his friends. Then, a few weeks into the year she realized how much Lev loved to read. He behaved himself when he was reading. She let him read almost all day. I figured he would learn a lot from reading and I could catch him up with math later. She was happy to have him not causing trouble. Lev was happy to read. I remember one day he finished a chapter book in a day. I wasn't thrilled with the situation, but it was a good compromise. Luckily his class was attached to the library. It was an unstaffed room with lots of shelves, tons of donated paperbacks, and some tables and chairs.

One day, at lunch time his teacher came into the office and asked if Lev was home sick. I said, no, he came to school with me, and was a little concerned about his whereabouts, but Monteverde wasn't a place to get concerned about kids wandering around. Still, we asked his friends, and went out searching. Eduardo said that he saw Lev in the library before school. So, there he was. On some cushions in the corner of the library. I asked him what he was doing, and he replied, "reading". He was completely unaware that school had started over three hours ago, regardless of the fact that you could hear his class through a door in the library. He had gotten half way through a book. I think it was the Redwall series.
Mid-year, his teacher left, and we hired a teacher that worked out very well. Lev was no longer able to read all day, but he enjoyed regular school again.

He didn't really appreciate the CEC when he was there, the tree climbing at recess, time in the forest, proyects, integrared curriculum, etc. until after returning to the States.

He remained really proud of his part of the forest that he reforested. We would go back and visit each time we returned to Monteverde the three square meters that he was responsible for in third grade, when Bryan was his teacher. In partners, they planted trees, and then maintained the land with little machetes, letting the trees grow larger than the king grass. They would graph their plot and the growth of the plants. They would sit and write poetry, becoming one with the land. It was about a fifteen minute walk from the classroom, and Lev seemed to remember where it was exactly. Last time we were there, two of his trees has grown taller than he was. He was so proud.