Gifts

M. scoops up all the little pebbles with student names and returns them to the small basket, and plops a knitted blue owl on top of it. We have finished our round of "Good mornings" and now it's M.s turn to share. He quickly walks out form the class and returns with one large paper shopping bag and a smaller plastic shopping bag.
Everyone watches in anticipation. This week's sharing theme is "Gift week" and from other students we have seen a purple fan from Italy, a palm sized tree twisted from wire and decorated with amber leaves, a small purse with a miniature poodle inside, a  doll in Bulgarian folk costume, a fluffy brown stuffed puppy - gifts from parents, friends and relatives.
What has M. brought that takes two bags?

First he pulls out a paper and reads from it something that sounds like a wikipedia entry.
"A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment. Gift can refer to anything that makes the other  happy or less sad. Gifts are  presented on birthdays and Christmas. Gift is an expression of love or friendship."
As an ELL student he has prepared some texts at earlier times too.
With a big smile spreading over his face he opens the plastic bag and pulls out two pencils, one with black plastic moustache on top and the other one with red thick plastic lips on top.
"The boys will get the pencils with moustache and the girls will get the ones with a mouth," M. explains. 
Others sit up straighter.
M. looks questioningly at me.
"You can give these out when we finish the morning circle," I answer him.
Has he misunderstood the sharing or is this a deliberate choice to give gifts instead of talking about them?*
He puts the plastic bag aside and reaches for the paper bag.
"My mom made chocolate cookies for everyone as a gift," he brings out a white cookie tin with Christmas ornaments on them. I nod, he opens the box, and soon we all have our mouths filled with home-made cookies.
While we eat, M. continues.
"This picture is for you," M. hands me a design of a flower in a pink frame.
"Thank you," I feel sincere gratitude for the interpretation of this week's theme.
The bag seems bottomless.
M. pulls out two paintings in a wooden frame.
"These are my gifts to the class. These are my paintings," he shows a colorful picture of a city with a dinosaur in the middle and another one of  boats floating on waves.**
"Wow" the class says in unison.***

* Mom later told that they talked about the theme at home and decided to make gifts.
** We know M. is an artist. He has shared some of his incredible art pieces with us before.
***In a primary classroom you have charts and student work on all walls- the math , the reading, the writing, the unit of inquiry- and sometimes it feels like the classroom should have more than four walls, and there isn't exactly space for paintings. I decided to empty one wall between two windows, called our school's handyman, and now the paintings are the first thing you see when you enter the door.