Family

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the fourth graders have an afterschool program in my room. I walked in on Wednesday to find James, one of my tigers, sitting by himself in the back of the room. I walked over to him and he looked up smiling. "Ms. Wong, I'm playing sheep hockey!" He was pushing his crackers back and forth on the desk. "James, why are you sitting back here by yourself?" He smiled at me and, in a very childish voice that wasn't his norm, he responded, "Because no one wants to sit with me!" After some conversation with James, I approached a group of my boys. "Hey, boys, James is sitting at the back all by himself." Without needing another word from me, Henry jumped up, "I'll go sit with James, Ms. Wong!" Without any hesitation, he walked over to James and very naturally said "Hey, James, what's up, man?" I watched the scene and smiled. Later on, I found that another one of my boys joined them.

The ways that my kids love and care for each other warms my heart. I love the beautiful moments of watching these little ones watch out for each other. Occasionally, one of them, when someone has been wronged, will remind the class, "We are a family, you guys."