Sweetness

I have a new student and being the new student is hard, but she has had a hard life before she ever became the new student.  

On her second day of school, she went home with a stomach ache.

She was gone for three days.

She came back again yesterday.  A few hours into the day, she complained of a stomach ache again.  I talked to her about how maybe she was feeling anxious.  She agreed that maybe so.  I gave her a pop it to pop and a timer.  She sat at my desk, watching the timer and popping and then she went back to work.

Right before recess, she told me again her stomach hurt.  

I told her we would assess after recess.

I had recess duty and I watched her walk around slowly by herself.

I went and rounded up a few of my rambunctious students who were playing tag.  "Hey, will you invite her to play?"

Three of them stopped what they were doing and walked toward her.  One boy pretended like he was going in slow motion, ramping up energy, then he sped off toward her.

I heard them each ask her if she wanted to play.  She quietly said, "No thank you."

Two other girls, who I hadn't even talked to, came up to her next.  "Do you want to go down the slide with us?" one of them asked.

She softly said no.

The other girl said, "It's fun when it has snow on it.  It's fast!"

"C'mon," said the other girl.  "C'mon!"

And she did.

I could have cried by how much it melted my heart but my face was frozen.  (Recess duty in December....)

In the afternoon, we had a fire drill.  By design, the fire drills are loud and obnoxious.  They blare and lights flash and they straight up terrify some of the kids.  I gave them all a heads up, including get your coats on.  

One little guy is a very gentle soul.  He had headphones on to block noise.  Minutes before the fire drill, they were standing near the door, getting their coats on.

He said, "I'm scared."

I said, "You're OK.  As soon as it starts, we'll go right outside."

His little eyes filled with tears and he said, "I'm really scared, Teacher." He looked up at me and asked softly, because it isn't actually something third graders usually do, "Can I hold your hand?"  

He put his little hand in mine.  The fire alarm went off and we headed outside.  He held my hand all across the blacktop to the soccer field where we line up.  The trust he placed in the security of just holding my hand was a little breathtaking.

What an honor it is to be their person for a few hours every day.