I wandered over to the writing center and saw her working.
"You are coloring in the space between the lines," I said.
She nodded. She pointed to the larger space. "I'm going to color there, too," she said.
"Just one color or many colors?"
"Many colors."
I left her to her work, checking back a couple of times to see the progress. She would talk to me about the colors she was using and noting the markers that didn't work as well as others.
"I'll bet you can't guess who I am giving this to," she said.
"Well, I could guess," I said. "But I may not guess the right person. Your mom?"
She said something about why she couldn't/wouldn't give it to her mom, but I couldn't understand. Before I could ask for clarification, my attention was needed elsewhere so I moved away from the writing center.
As the class was cleaning up, she asked me, "What's your favorite color, Mr. Scott?"
"Hmmm. Blue."
She smiled and nodded. I kept moving around the room.
As we finished cleaning and began to move to our circle, she smiled broadly and thrust something toward me.
"For me?" I asked. She nodded.
"It looks like the beach," she said as she pointed to the larger area of blue.
I refolded it. "I'm putting it in my pocket so I won't lose it," I said as I slipped it into my pocket.
Last week I posted about showing care to the kids in your class. But something I didn't mention in that post is that caring goes both ways. Kids often do show care for adults as well. As an adult, I must be ready and open to whatever kinds of care they show.
This particular girl and I haven't "connected" much this year. We talk occasionally. She is a pleasant, lovely girl. But more quiet. Yes, we haven't connected much this year.
Until now.
