What causes us who have taught more than twenty years in first grade to stay in that grade? More than anything, I think it is the innocence and joy in a first graders' eyes as they understand the joy of reading, writing, and numbers. The three R's...so much has changed in teaching the three R's over the last twenty plus years. We have gone from reading groups to whole group to heterogeneous flexible grouping to individual differentiated instruction...you know the list could continue on and on. Authors such as the sisters and Carol Avery have certainly changed my practice and the way I look at children. I have had administrators who have encouraged me to explore and develop my own philosophy of teaching. This year the thing that has impacted my teaching more than anything else is my own 6 year old grandson. While that seems odd since I teach six and seven year olds all the time, it took my own grandson to remind me that when a first grader comes in of a morning it is as important or more so that I listen to what that child has to say as it is for me to start the routines of the day. Sometimes, at least for me, things as simple as Morning Meeting, could become more about the process than the child. The Child is the most important element of all.