Oh Ren

Ren is one of the smartest eight year olds that I teach. His mom speaks English, so he speaks fluently and accurately and can hold a conversation with me. He also get's really bored in class because he understands what's going on and hates waiting for everyone else to catch up to him, but he's really good at keeping the other kids in line. When the other kids are talking in Chinese, he'll look at them and roll his eyes and say with a huge sigh "Shut UP!" It's really funny, and extremely helpful because Ren is not only a smart pants, but he is Mr. Popular, so everyone listens to him. He even walks with swag.

You would think that Ren might be full of himself because of his English-speaking status (he's easily one of our favorites, and he knows it) but Ren is also one of the sweetest kids I've ever met. Because Ren is so advanced, he always has a million tokens at the end of the week. Last Saturday, during store, he decided to spend his tokens on a bracelet that is clearly meant for a girl. Laura started making fun of him for picking it, because it was a girl bracelet and was not made for a boy. Ren turned around and held it out and said with a slight shake of his head: "I bought it for you!"

Today in class, I had my kids make cheetahs out of construction paper. As I was instructing the kids (step-by-step) on how to draw a cheetah face, I looked over at Ren who had already drawn his cat head and proceeded to draw this (and then make sure it was clearly labeled).

I told you he was a smart cookie.