My Heart is Warm

Like I said in my previous post, I'm one of those awful teachers that picks favorites. Little Mohamed is one of the coolest and most special little boys that I've ever met and I would really like to steal him from his family and bring him to my house haha. His family are Somalian refugees that moved here from Africa to escape from civil war and centuries of abuse. I don't know enough about them to tell their whole story, but like most of our refugee families, they are living in poverty and lacking the resources that most Americans take for granted. Regardless of these obstacles, Mohamed is one of the smartest 1st graders I've ever encountered. He reads better than most of our 8th graders and has such a great attitude, temperament and sense of humor. Unfortunately since he never needs any extra help I don't get to work with him very often, but I take any chance I get to hang out with him in our free time.

Since Thursday was their last day of school I got a moment to sit with him and color for a bit before he went home.

Here I am with Mohamed and his big sister Sahra. (Don't you love my awesome Christmas get up?)

Here is Mohamed with his cool new hat

I excused myself from our coloring date for a few moments and when I came back I realized that he was making me a Christmas card (eee!). 

The ironic thing about it is that Mohamed's family doesn't even celebrate Christmas haha but he spelled everything right and it seriously made me the happiest teacher in the world. This made me miss my old job at the Norton Museum and all the funny little things that my art students would make me. I'm filing this away in my folder of awesome things that make me smile :)

Love love love these kids! My job kinda rules.