I made the mistake of trying to chat with the class after lunch and BEFORE recess. When you have a class of 16 boys and the nine girls, you need to be sure to get outside as often as possible!
This was the turn of events:
“Boys and girls, this week there is an important day coming up, almost like a holiday. Can you tell me what it is?”
“I KNOW!! It’s my nana’s birfday!”
“Well, that’s close, but it’s another day that has SOMETHING to do with what we live on,” I said, as I made the shape of a large circle in the air with my finger.
“Da ERF!!! It’s ERF day!!!”
“That’s right, Jason. It’s going to be Earth Day on Thursday. Can someone tell me what that means?” A billion hands shot up, and I called on Julie.
“Sally hit me.”
“Um, she’s sitting ALL the way over there. How could she do that?”
“Well, it was at lunch.”
“We’ll talk about that on the bench during recess. Okay? Me, you and Sally- meeting on the bench; now, what’s Earth day people?”
James, “It’s when we fank de erf.”
Brian, “It’s saving the earth from dying. Cause we don’t know WHEN it’s gonna die, but we are gonna try to save it from dying.”
Jessica, “Yeah, we can’t repair it, we have to save it.”
John: “Can I take my coat off?”
“John, yes. Now, can anyone remember what we were talking about?”
Michael, “No, but I wanted to get a drink. Can I get a drink?”
“Yes, okay, now who else can tell me----wait. WAIT. Did I tell EVERYONE to go get a drink? Sit back down people - you, too, Michael. Okay, what can we do for Earth Day??”
Jack: “I know! We can not do litter and save our plastic milk bottles. Like we do right now!”
“Paige, what do you want to say?”
“You told us yesterday that you didn’t want to see anymore fingers in our noses and Toby won’t stop picking his nose.”
“Toby, fingers down; Anna, what did you want to say?”
“Did you exercise Mrs Smythe? Cause you look different today!”
“Okay, class. Guess what? Anna- you would get an automatic A if I gave grades, because yes I have been exercising and haven’t worn these jeans for two years. And on another note, we are going to continue this discussion tomorrow, because I am officially throwing in the towel!”
“A towel? What does THAT mean?”
Me, “That means LINE UP!”
And then, the craziness really began as they ran screaming to the door.
Yep. That was about a five-minute window into my day. Best job ever?
You better believe it.
Now, someone hand me the remote. I'm disausted.
