Mayhem

May stresses me out, I'll be honest. Consider this the "busy season" for teachers. It's not necessarily a bad stress, but it's a stress nonetheless. What the end of the school year throws at a teacher is similar to trying to drink from a fire hose. That creates a funny picture in my mind. :)

Anyhow, I've decided to give myself a project in the midst of everything else. I miss Project 365, so May will be a mini-version with the same basic idea. Each day I'll take a picture of something contributing to the "mayhem" in the month of May...and I'll blog about it. Not a novel idea, I know, but fun glimpse into everyday life for me. So to begin...

This...is the Roman Forum. The middle schoolers at my school put this shindig on each year, and it is SO much fun. To celebrate the end of a long unit on Roman history, they host an outdoor marketplace for the entire school. My kids bring $5 each, and it goes a looooong way. A bag of popcorn for a penny, a wide-brimmed hat for $0.50, baked goods, Silly Band bracelets, sodas, flowers, and jewelry are just a few items sold at this thing.

We used our only class time to attend this today, and it was a blast. My old students were selling things, so of course I had no self-control and just about spent my full $5. But I now have the coolest purple and black checkered shoelaces.

After we got back to the classroom, I was explaining to the kids that they needed to save candy/soda/treats for after school - they had already indulged enough. We were about to go to Computer class, which was then followed by lunch and recess. My favorite conversation of the day occurred at this point. I had just been very clear about what to do with their new purchases, when a student raised his hand:

Student: Miss Cunningham, I bought some ice cream, so can I come back up to eat that after lunch?

Me: You bought ice cream?

Mrs. Miller (my assistant): Honey, where is your ice cream?

Student: In my backpack.

My thoughts: [You want to leave your ice cream in your backpack for the next hour and a half and eat it after that? This is amazing...]

Mrs. Miller (praise God for her): Honey, we need to go put that in the freezer!

I seriously love my job. A child's thought process and the things that come from the mouths of my students...priceless.

So there it is...my first post about May and the "hem" that comes with it. :) It has only just begun.