Little heroes

A lot of the children I work with when I volunteer are Hispanic.  (And super cute, but that's beside the point.)

I was working with a little boy a few weeks ago.  He is on the high end, skill-wise, of the students.  I was working with him on sentence sequencing which is leaps and bounds ahead of the kids who are struggling with vowel sounds.

He excitedly told me about the Box Top Contest in the school.  He told me the first grade classes were winning.  I told him that was great.  I asked him if he'd brought some box tops.  He said, "No.  My mom speaks Spanish so I don't know what a box top is."

At once my heart was broken and I was filled with admiration.  Also, my usual response to these cuties:  I just wanted to make him cookies.

I asked him if he spoke Spanish and I acknowledged how impressive it was that he spoke two languages.  I am teaching him sentence sequencing, but in his second language.  It kind of blows me away.

I am no star when it comes to reading all the communications from my children's schools.  So many emails.  Blah blah blah.

But I can read them.

If it's something that matters, I can find out about it.  I can send an email or make a phone call or walk into the school to talk to someone to advocate for my kids when necessary.

When I think of these tiny first graders navigating everything in a foreign language that their parents don't speak, it just astounds me.  They are little heroes.