WARMTH!
Everyone, it is finally warm here. So warm, that staying inside during the school day is a crime that I simply cannot tolerate after the winter we had. I took every class I had today outside, and it was glorious.
ESPECIALLY glorious, because there is something magical that happens when you give kids good books and then take them outside: THEY ACTUALLY READ. For extended periods of time. Even kids who normally won't read for love or money or even slurpees - you get them outside and all of a sudden they are on task and paying attention!
Today was the second day in a row that kid D has been at school. This is remarkable because he hasn't come to school, despite us trying everything we know how to do, since about October of GRADE 8. Which is a year and a half ago. Every once in a while, during that year and a half, he would surface for an hour or two, or I'd find him outside the school building, but he'd never come inside and if he did, he didn't stick around for long. Well, today he came on time, and then he spent an HOUR reading the book I gave him and when he was tired of reading he came and talked to me about it.
It was a day where my heart was just bursting with love for these kids. They are so precious and smart (in various ways), street savvy, and up against so much. Watching kid D move from the bench in the shade to the swing, and back to the bench - all the while his book in his hands, reading slowly and carefully - it made my heart swell to watch him. Amazing.
Sometimes I think the single most important thing I can do for kids is to give them good books, put them in a nice breezy shady spot and then get out of their way and let them do the rest.
Pretty good day, all around.
ESPECIALLY glorious, because there is something magical that happens when you give kids good books and then take them outside: THEY ACTUALLY READ. For extended periods of time. Even kids who normally won't read for love or money or even slurpees - you get them outside and all of a sudden they are on task and paying attention!
Today was the second day in a row that kid D has been at school. This is remarkable because he hasn't come to school, despite us trying everything we know how to do, since about October of GRADE 8. Which is a year and a half ago. Every once in a while, during that year and a half, he would surface for an hour or two, or I'd find him outside the school building, but he'd never come inside and if he did, he didn't stick around for long. Well, today he came on time, and then he spent an HOUR reading the book I gave him and when he was tired of reading he came and talked to me about it.
It was a day where my heart was just bursting with love for these kids. They are so precious and smart (in various ways), street savvy, and up against so much. Watching kid D move from the bench in the shade to the swing, and back to the bench - all the while his book in his hands, reading slowly and carefully - it made my heart swell to watch him. Amazing.
Sometimes I think the single most important thing I can do for kids is to give them good books, put them in a nice breezy shady spot and then get out of their way and let them do the rest.
Pretty good day, all around.
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