A little thing…compassion

Yesterday reminded me that it is the little things.

Just as I was lining my students up for recess, my phone dinged loudly, meaning I had a text. As I was corralling the students to transition from ReflexMath on an iPad to now grab their coats and lunches to go outside, I also found my phone under the math morning work papers. It was from my teamate, four doors down the hall. She relayed that she just got word of a death in her family. “Can you take me kids to recess…I need a minute.” I zoomed down the hallway, gave her a hug and told her line of energetic students to follow me. Back down the hall, I asked my students to form a double line with this class and outside we went, providing some space and quiet inside the building.

The reaction of my other three teammates matched mine – let’s tell her to go, be with family and we can easily divide up her kids into our 4 classrooms for the remainder of the day. After recess, we shared this idea and sent our sad friend home.

As I was passing out the feeling/character trait cards to my class plus 6 during the afternoon Reading Workshop lesson, I asked, “Are there any words you see on the card that you aren’y sure of its meaning?”

“Compassion?” one student asked.

“Compassion is when you know how another is feeling when they aren’t feeling good. FOr example, the third grade teachers showed compassion by helping your teacher today. We knew she was sad because of her family loss and we showed compassion by teaching for her now.”

I think we all understand this word clearly.