Big Hearts

Today I cried at work. Sometimes it happens. I'm always amazed at the size of hearts these small children have. Once again they have taught me a valuable lesson.

As part of their curriculum they must learn how to write a persuasive letter. We started working on these last week and did our final practice before the big test tomorrow. Today's assignment was to persuade me to allow them to sit next to a friend of their choice. They were pretty excited because I also informed them that if their letter was good enough I really would move their seats. I have never seen them work so hard! As I read through the letters I had to smile at the crazy things that came up. Two of the letters impressed me (which then led to tears). 

Dear Miss Hoppes, 

I promise not to talk with William. I swear not to play together while you're trying to explain something. We will help each other earn ice cream points. I'll be super nice. I will not have any problems. Please Miss Hoppes. Please with a cherry on top. 

Rhett

Now what you need to know is that Rhett is the probably the most popular kid in our class and William is my sweet little autistic boy. Rhett asks Will to sit with him at lunch, he offers to be his buddy during reading, and he always has a compliment for him. It melts my heart.

Dear Miss Hoppes,

I want to sit by Traeson because no one ever talks to him usually and I think that is just not fair. Can I please sit by him today? This is a good reason because if I sit by him I can help him on his work and maybe if I sit by him then I can probably help Will too! Oh and if I can help Traeson and Will then you can get some more work done, wouldn't that be nice! Don't forget that I can probably keep both of them happy and I think they are some smarty pants and super cool. It's like they eat Smarties all the time!

From, 

Taylor

Again, how can that not melt your heart. Traeson needs some extra help because he has some special needs. He is the sweetest boy, but it's hard to understand him so the kids (not trying to be mean) don't always talk to him. Taylor could have picked any of her friends, but she really wanted to pick Traeson and Will so that she could help them. Did you catch that she was doing it to help me too? 

How are these children so giving and selfless at the age of 8? Huge lesson today for me. Think less about myself and my problems and do all that I can to help those around me. Thank you 2nd graders for another lesson on life!