The Kindergarteners I Grew to LOVE!

L to R: Amy, Erick, Jair, Seth, & Xavier (Amy was VERY obedient and always wanted to do the right thing. She would stay after and help me clean up. She received the Best Citizen award from the Principal for the girls. Erick was such a fun kid. He loved to tell me everything that was going on with him every day. He was very bright and liked to tell everyone the answers. Jair was very shy and quiet. When he would talk, I would have to listen very carefully to hear him. But by the last few weeks he really opened up and came out of his shell and I almost had to calm him down a few times. It was so rewarding to see the transition with many of them. Seth was so BUSY. He was always distracted by everything around him. He loved competition but had a hard time focusing sometimes. Xavier completely stole my heart from the very first day. He was just such a sweet, happy kid. I kept wondering what nationality he was because he didn't speak real clear English but had a different accent than the other kids. Come to find out he's Hawaiian and only speaks English but just had a severe speech impediment.)

L to R: Julian, Hayden, Yensin, Yessenia, & Brandon (Julian was very bright and loved to please me but had his personal space and was shy about hugs, Hayden was the one who struggled the most and had the very saddest homelife. He came to school hours late most days, never had his homework looked at and no one showed up for his graduation -- he never could quite put sounds together in words. Yensin (pronounced Jensen) was one of our success stories. He moved from Guatamala right when I got there and didn't know a word of English and was extremely shy. By the last few weeks, he was speaking pretty well and really caught on to reading. He was soooo excited about everything he would learn and want to just shout it out. He became an extrovert by the end and I usually had to calm him down --- so different from when he first came. He LOVED to give me hugs just out of the blue. He'd get up in the middle of our lesson and come over and give me a hug and then go sit back down. Yessenia was just a little sweetheart. She was very obedient and a pleaser and she learned pretty quickly. Brandon was just a teddy bear kind of a kid. He loved to hug also and give me a kiss on the cheek. He was so nice to everyone and so sensitive to everyone's feelings. He received the Best Citizen Award in the class from the Principal. Also, learned quickly.

L to R.: Hugo, Adela, Uriel, Courtney, & Gabriel (Hugo was the youngest in the class, loves to dress up and he had a crush on me. He would stare up at me adoringly and kept asking me if I liked him. I would work with him one on one sometimes and he would put his arm around me the whole time. Adela can be the biggest tattle tale and seemed to like to get everyone in trouble, but I loved her anyway. She was the tiniest one but a ball of fire. Uriel was a whiner and a troublemaker but I adored him. He had a real sweet side to him despite his behavior. Courtney didn't like competition and had to go to the bathroom every classtime, I swear. She really struggled with reading and it was really hard on her to not keep up with the others. But she was so adorable. Gabriel was probably the brightest one but couldn't stay focused and daydreamed a lot. I would catch him looking around the room most of the time I was giving instruction and have to call his attention back continually. But when I would ask him questions, he always knew the answer. Go figure!)

L to R: Logan, Manuel, Kristina, Angel, & Paco (also known as Juan -- his real name was Juan but he liked to be called Paco - he LOVES Spider Man!! I mean really loves Spider Man. It was an obsession with him. Logan is very competitive and had a one track mind. When he would want you to do something, he had a real hard time taking no for an answer. Manuel is a tease, but very sweet. He was pretty bright and usually knew all the answers but he would tell me the wrong answer just to pull my chain. Kristina loves to be my helper and she would lay on me or sit on my lap if I would let her which I couldn't do most of the time. Angel totally stole my heart (he comes from a very rough home life). He would fall asleep in class often and I came to find out, two families were living in a small apartment and he slept on the couch with his brother. He was very sad one day and I pulled him aside and asked what was wrong and he said he had his birthday but didn't get any presents or any cake. Broke my heart.

This post is kind of late because school ended over a week ago, but I left for Seattle and then Girl's Camp right after so here it is. I just wanted to introduce you to the kids I've been working with the last 3 months. (Sorry this is so long) I truly grew to love each one of these kids dearly so I wanted to share who they are with you. I will really miss them. I loved that job for as long as I had it.