During calendar time, as Jason did the careful work of counting our straws to make sure we indeed had one hundred, the grounds crew decided to remove the icy, crunchy snow that had piled up to almost the top of our windows… with shovels, at the exact moment he began counting… the shades were pulled and we talked about ignoring distractions, but it was hard.
As Mrs. D. read the first of many read alouds about the one hundredth day of school, the first page read, ‘Little Johnny came to school and plinked a penny into a jar. Mrs. Madoff told him his would be the first penny in the class jar.’
Yes, Mrs. Madoff. Mrs. D. burst out laughing… I let out a howl. The class looked at us like we had ten heads. It really is nice having another adult to appreciate references that fly over the kids heads.
When each sprout was counting their collection of one hundred items they’d brought in, I heard a desperate Rebecca call out, “One of my marshmallows, it’s missing!”
I ran over.
“Rebecca, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“My one hundredth marshmallow, it’s gone… Luther ate it!” She cried.
I shot a look at Luther. He looked guilty, but he always looks guilty.
“I didn’t eat it, Mr. _______, I’m being honest,” he proclaimed.
With that, Mrs. D. wandered over.
I explained the dilemma to her.
“Well, Rebecca, you’re missing a marshmallow because you ate one… remember you thought you had an extra?” She asked Rebecca.
“Oh yeah…”
Later as we made our necklaces with one hundred pieces of Fruit Loops, Sarah made me bust out laughing again.
We had instructed the class not to eat any cereal as they counted and worked. We were using communal plates of cereal and we promised when we finished the necklaces everyone would get a small cup to eat. This satisfied the kids and while they moaned and groaned about how amazing the cereal smelled and how they all wanted to eat it so badly, nobody did.
As we finished and I was about to announce we were ready to pass out the cereal for eating, I glanced over at Sarah… her necklace was in her hands and she was gingerly licking it. I lost it… laughter that probably alarmed the teacher next door. Oh well, it was funny.
There were probably one hundred ways I laughed or smiled today. Loving your sprouts and job is a brilliant way to spend your day.
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2 comments:
100th day is the best! (exhausting, but fun) I'm super impressed that they all had enough self control not to eat the cereal till the end. I would have busted out laughing at the licking incident too :)
I was lucky enough to volunteer in our youngest son's kindergarten class one day a week - and BLESSED to spend the 100th day with the 17 sprouts he called classmates and friends.
You brought back a bunch of memories - from the counting straws (his were coffee stir sticks) to the fruity cereal necklace...sigh.
And you just confirmed why his awesome teacher liked to have volunteers!! She was more than capable on her own - but now I see that she wanted someone to laugh with and share a look when the sprouts made innocent comments. They were too good to keep all to herself!
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