Humbled

"Remember when my mom was in jail? I cried when that happened because I was scared she wouldn't come back."

I was on recess duty and this little girl came to follow up on a class discussion. Sometimes I am amazed by how "real" my students are with me. They haven't really started hiding things from adults yet; that leads them to make the most amazing comments and ask questions that boggle the mind. Children of a certain age expose their souls and it sometimes makes for a humbling experience.

We've been doing a unit with our counselor on feelings. Also, I choose a stick of one lucky kiddo every week and read their library book to the class. This week it happened to be Tough Boris by Mem Fox. It is about a pirate whose parrot dies and is a wonderful book about crying. After we read the book I asked if any kids wanted to share about a time they cried. We had a great discussion and then we were off to recess.