I love these kids.

I am so lucky to have an amazing group of 6th graders. Yes, there are one or two more "challenging" kids in each period but nothing too horrible--no backtalking, no defiance, no major issues. They're just a bunch of fun, funny, smart (well, most of them) sweet kids. I would step in front of a speeding bus for any one of them (although there's some I'd move a little more quickly for than others. ;) ).

Today, one of them came up to me and said, "Miss K, can we have a penny drive for the people in the hurricane?" We teachers had already been talking about doing SOMETHING as a school, but to have this boy come up to US with the idea was just so sweet.

Side note: this boy is both one of my favorite students AND one of the most frustrating. He is incredibly smart (he's done very well on his assignments so far), volunteers in class, is funny as hell and usually has very sharp, insightful comments and questions. But HOLY CRAP, he has the attention span of a flea. He hasn't been officially diagnosed with anything, but he can usually be found wandering around the room, looking out the window, standing by the door (not even getting ready to leave--just STANDING there, like he's waiting for a bus), etc. Sometimes I'll look up and he'll just be standing at my desk. "What do you need, R?" I'll ask for perhaps the 15th time that day, since we have him for three periods: reading, language arts and social studies. "Nothing," he'll say. "I'm just looking at this pencil/your desk/this paper/your chair/that paperclip." "R, SIT." "Okay." He listens well--he'll sit right down and start working on his assignment...for about three minutes. Soon, he'll be flipping through his lit book (which would be fine, if we weren't in social studies at the time) or gazing out the window or wandering along the book shelves, touching each title as he passes by.

THIS was the boy who come up to me today with his penny drive idea. And it's moments like that just make me LOVE this kid.