The Spelling List

I'm an apartment manager and have some children in my community who don't seem to have as much support as I did growing up. Last Thursday, my 3rd day of my Giving Challenge, we were hosting a Halloween Party for the neighborhood kids. I have some kids who I've become very familiar with over the past few months, who always say "hi" when they see me, and sometimes come into the office to chat. I found out that report cards came out earlier in the week, because many of my little friends rushed in to tell me they made the honor roll. Before the Halloween party, there were a few girls waiting in the office for things to start. I didn't recognize these girls, so I was asking them their names, what grade they were in and then I asked if they, too, made the Honor Roll. One girl said she did, and the other said she did not. She told me her hardest subject was spelling and that she also didn't do very well in reading. I told her that we had 20 minutes before the party started and if she ran home and got her spelling list that I would be able to go over it with her to help her prepare for her weekly test the next day. I honestly wasn't sure if she'd come back, after all, we'd never talked before and I didn't know if I had embarrassed her with my questions. She did run home and right back to the office with both her report card and her spelling list in hand. I couldn't believe that she handed her report card over to me, so that I could read what the teacher wrote.

As "T" and I started going through her spelling list I realized that we had a lot of work to do. The first time I quizzed her on the list she probably had 3 of the 20 words right on the list. The second time, she did a little better. Then I remembered that I had just bought a new game the night before that I thought might help her. It's a Scrabble card game that had different letters on each card. I asked my husband to run home and get the game and I told "T" that I had something for her after the party. After most of the other kids left she came up to me and asked if we could work on her list anymore. I told her I had a different way for us to go through the list and we sat down on the floor in my office and spread out the lettered cards in front of us. As I quizzed "T" this time, she had to find the next letter in the word and spell it out with the cards. Going through the list this way, she seemed to catch on a little bit better and had more words right than wrong. Her confidence was growing and she got more animated as we worked together. I told her that I was going to give her the game so that she could continue go through the list on her own at home. She left with a smile and I felt so good about my new friend and the time that we spent together.

Today, she came into my office and told me she got a 90% on her spelling test. "T" was so excited. We high-fived and I was so happy for her that I almost cried. I told her that I would help her anytime she wanted me to. She told me how proud her mom was of her and that she bought her some special new socks as a treat for her good grade.

I am so rewarded by this experience, I'm overflowing. :)