kids are strange

This is gross, but so bizarre that I have to share.

One of the 7th & 8th grade teachers came into our room this morning wondering if we had a 5th grade student with a "rat tail".

I said, "Oh yeah! (Student shall remain anonymous to protect his identity) 'Child X' has a long one; likes to twirl it around his fingers during class."

To which he replied, "well, yesterday we found something in the urinal....and I went over the surveillance cameras and have a list of 4 or 5 boys that may have been involved at any given time. Child A went in at 10:25 and was in the bathroom for 2 minutes. Child B was in for 1 minute at such and such a time.....etc." You get the idea. Basically, they found a turd and a wad of toilet paper in the urinal. Seems like someone pooped in the wad of TP in his hand, dropped it in the urinal and ran. Sick, I know. So, he was wondering what I knew.

Well, I had been working in the hallway that day with Child X and another boy. Child X asked to go to the bathroom and I said no. 3 minutes later, "Can I go now?" "No." And a third time....well by then, I had noticed that he was passing gas every couple of minutes and thought that maybe he really DID have to go....so I asked if it was an emergency, he said yes, and said he could go. (Afterall, I didn't want any accidents in my hallway.) He RAN into the classroom, came RUNNING back out and down the hallway. According to Ryan, the other teacher, "Child X was in the restroom for 6 minutes, which is longer than normal."

So....it was so funny today trying to solve the mystery without really being able to ask anyone about it. And even if we do find out who did it....then what? What's the punishment for that?! Oh man.....kids are STUH-RANGE!!!

In other news, I've got a ticket to the Brewer game on the 28th.....I have no idea who they're playing, but it'll be a fun experience anyway. I think I'm going to take my CT with me....and we're going wit my aunt and uncle and a bunch of people from the college.....very cool.

My little Riley was an angel today. I'll share an excerpt from my journal yesterday:

I’m falling in love with these kids. My CT told me today that she’s noticed that I gravitate toward “those kids”, meaning the Rileys, the Davids, the Peytons; the ones that want to get in trouble; the ones that play with pens during class, wear skull necklaces to school and spiky belts. Those young boys who still want to love their teacher but can’t find the balance between that and being really cool with their friends. They want to visit with each other during class; they want to see how far the inside of their pen can fly when they use the spring inside to launch it forward, and they still want to turn their homework in on time so they can get a sticker on their assignment sheet. These children are precious.

I had to laugh today when I saw that Riley’s jeans were falling off- obviously weighed down by something very heavy. I asked him, when just he and I were in the hallway helping one of the junior high science classes, if he was wearing a huge belt buckle. He lifted up his shirt and had a giant skull belt buckle the size of a CD hanging from his waist. I just wanted to laugh! I asked him where he got it and he said his brother had one just like it that you put “that thing that holds alcohol in it”. How sad that he’s already learning and seeing these things; one more reason to invest my heart and energy into these kids.

Mrs. Cashmer and I went down to pick them up from the lunchroom today. Riley was sitting against the wall on a bench and another boy was leaning on the wall 20- or so feet away from him. There was a teacher in between and it was obvious from the scowls on their faces that the boys were not happy. I walked over and sat down next to Riley. I didn’t say anything and I didn’t give him any looks. I could hear him muttering about “if he comes one step closer….if he looks at me one more time…..”. I glanced over my shoulder and kind of leaned my head into him. This is the conversation that followed:

“Mark Morallas is ruining my life. Ever since he came here in 4th grade, my life has turned around.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Mrs. Cole and Mr. Valice don’t believe me. They’re always taking his side. I just want to hit him so hard. He told my mom he wasn’t moving onto 5th grade. Now he is moving on to 5th grade. Everyone loved my brother. He was friends with the whole school….”
“I know you get really angry and this is probably very frustrating for you. But hitting him doesn’t sound like a very good idea to me. You know why? Because then YOU get in more trouble than anyone- and that stinks for you. I’d be really disappointed because you’d probably be expelled again. I missed you a lot . And I know you’re a really good student and a very nice person so I was really disappointed when I heard what happened. Next time you get really angry at Mark Morallas, What could you do instead?”
“I don’t have any other options- I lose all my friends.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’d have to transfer schools and lose all my friends.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No.” By this time, he had tears welling up in his eyes.

So we sat for a while longer and he talked a little and I talked a little and I told him to find me or another teacher when he needed to talk about this or when he was so angry that he wanted to pummel Mark Morallas. He laughed and said ok. So….we’ll see what happens.

The rest of the day he was very attentive, did his work…..and he even stayed late after all the other students to put chairs up on the desks for me. What a sweetheart. ☺ I love my job.

I start creative writing tomorrow. We’re going to do journals. I have one for each of them- and I’m going to let them write or draw- hopefully every day. I want them to be able to express themselves creatively and I know that some like to write and some hate to write. Same with drawing or reading, etc. I’m bringing my journal for an example tomorrow to show them what one can look like. We’ll use magazines later next week to decorate and personalize them. I’m very excited.