Celebrated and honored

Let me start by saying this post is long overdue. I should have posted about Sheena sooner than this but such is life. But I am thankful to report that the moms of ALL my kids decided to tell the truth to the kids. It was a long day but in the end, I was very proud of the kids and happy they knew the truth. Well at long last, here's the details...

After the two days my classes didn't have school, we all returned to school on Wednesday. I got to the classrooms early and left a message to the kids as to what would be happening that day. I told them it would be a different kind of day and to unpack their bags and go to Bristol class. As the day started, there was word that a few of the kids wouldn't be coming to school, the mothers didn't want their kids to know the truth. I was a little upset that a few of the kids wouldn't be coming but the school was calling the moms still trying to convince them to send their kids, and I was grateful for this. As all the kids arrived, I let them color or play with the blocks, surprisingly they didn't ask where Sheena teacher was, they were more concerned with why they weren't studying. I told them it was going to be a different day and kept waiting for all the kids to get there.

As the morning went on almost all the kids that were coming were there, we were waiting for one last kid and Ellie, our assistant director, told me that two of the kids that weren't going to come were on their way. I was very happy about this. As we were waiting for those kids to come, we heard from the last mom and she was also sending her kid. All the convincing and talking had worked.

Once all the kids were there, we got all the kids (15 of them) into one room. One of our Korean teachers came in and took over. She started by showing them a movie about a boy who had a pet mouse that died. After the video, she explained (all in Korean) what death was, then told them what happened to Sheena. A few of the kids broke down and were sobbing uncontrollably. It was heartbreaking. Others were crying as well, a few didn't cry but just looked shocked. They all asked questions and were given the chance to cry. After about 10-15 minutes, the kids were given the chance to go down to Sheena's office where we had put up flowers and pictures. They went down in shifts to see her and after they saw her, they were able to write letters to her.

They all handled it very well. I was happy all of them felt comfortable enough to cry in front of each other and they all wrote great letters to Sheena. It was a hard day but I was so happy all the kids came and knew the truth. It gave them a chance to talk about it and learn how to grieve and cope with death.

I put a picture of Sheena up in both my classrooms and told the kids they can write letters to Sheena or talk to her whenever they want. The next few days at school the kids wanted to go down and see Sheena or they would ask questions about her. Things have slowed down since then, the kids are resilient and will move on, but I'm glad they all know and have learned this great lesson in life.