Even I would rather have chocolate...

As I’ve said before, I had an UNUSUALLY challenging class this year.  That being said, I would face each day with the words, “Today will be a better day”.   

Mostly it wasn’t.   But each morning I had hope!. 

Mornings are so very important to any classroom, as they set the tone for the day.  I tried everything to keep the mornings somewhat quiet and calm. I put classical music on, I had somewhat easy morning work on the tables, I separated them to different tables every day or so to try to find a way to keep them all working somewhat quietly. 

I failed miserably. 

They were a friendly and talkative group. And what I mean by that is, if one person got in a fight with one group, they could easily move on to another group and create even more chaos.  More than one of my cherubs has that particular talent.

I had two fellas in particular whose names were Alex and Zack.  They knew each other from pre-school and their families were fast friends who would often socialize together.  Normally that is a plus. Except when that friendship is more like a love-hate relationship that ends creating chaos in its wake.  Alex was very LOUD and looked for Zack as soon as he entered the classroom each morning. He also liked to copy every single thing that Alex did- from ordering the same lunch, to not listening to the teacher, to running around the carpet to having the same breakfast or anything at all basically.   

Zack had breakfast at school each morning, due to the fact that his parents left him at before school care each morning too early for him to eat.  We have a great breakfast program that allows anyone to purchase a breakfast. 

Alex, on the other hand, always eat breakfast at home.  I like to guess each morning what he had based on what was around his mouth or down the front of his shirt.  This “at home” breakfast never deterred him from purchasing one each morning, based on what Zack was eating. And, without fail, they usually ended up with chocolate milk as their drink of choice. Now I’m sure there isn’t enough sugar in the chocolate milk to get them too cranked up, but I still “strongly encouraged” them to get regular 2% milk.  (“Zack, I’m BEGGING you to get white milk. PLEASE You KNOW Alex needs all the help we can give him to try to remain calm.”) After a few weeks of going back and forth, Zack began getting white milk. However, much to our dismay, Alex continued to grab the chocolate. 

I gave up, knowing it was a battle I would never win. 

A few weeks before school was out, Zack came into the classroom with his breakfast, yelling for me at the top of his lungs, “MS. Marsh, MS.MARSH!!” 

I quickly made my way towards hi, hoping to “quell the yell.”  

“This is your lucky day!” he shouted anyway.  “The kitchen is OUT of chocolate milk!” And with that the rest of class started cheering.  

We began the day with rowdy laughter, but this time I was in on it.  That kind chaos makes it all o.k.