Crayons

I teach at a Title 1 school.  That means my students come from low-income homes.  I am always amazed at how they take nothing for granted.  I could go on and on about stories of how getting the simplest things (like a pencil to take home) is treated like Christmas.

I sent home a paper doll today for them to decorate as themselves in preparation for the upcoming Diversity Week at school.  One of my boys (that is always observing me with eyes that don't know if they can trust) raised his hand and asked if he could take his crayons home because he didn't have any.  In my haste, that comes with the end of the day, I told him to go home and see what he had and if he needed crayons I would have some for him tomorrow.  There were a few other students that echoed his request because they didn't have crayons either.

Thinking about it now makes me want to go back and not only let him take the crayons right then but to find anything else that he is lacking for a "normal" childhood and give it to him.  I don't ever remember not having crayons to color with - even when times were very lean.  Moments like that give me a glimpse into a side of life that I have never experienced.  How blessed I am and how I take things for granted!

Tomorrow I will have a box of crayons, a new pencil, and eraser for each of my students to take home.  I'm sure it will be like Christmas has come again to my classroom.