The countdown is on!

Apparently we have only 20-some days of school left this year. I'm resisting the countdown, partly because 20-some days is still 20-some days, and I know it will be a struggle to the very end. The other reason I'm resisting is because I'm not quite ready to say good-bye to the little people that I've spent the last 9 months with.

I don't know if it's the spring weather or the end of the year in sight, but the students have been wilder than ever! These are just some of the problems that have arisen over the last two weeks:

• a student putting water in his pencil sharpener during class (only he and the Lord know why)
• 2 boys pointing scissors at each other; another boy pretending to cut another student's hair (You can imagine the lecture I gave about how they should know how to properly use scissors by now!)
• One student kept taking his shoes off whenever he felt like it, no matter how many times I told him he couldn't!
• For the life of me, I absolutely cannot get this one boy to follow along in his reading book when we're reading as a class. Lately whenever it's his turn to read and he doesn't know where we are, he says, "Who, what, when, where...?" It exasperates me, and I think I've just about given up. 
• In the last two weeks, I've had to confiscate several pencil sharpener blades from several different students. (What third grader plays with pencil sharpener blades??) One student got cut by one, but assured me it didn't hurt. 
• At Hot Lunch on Wednesday, one of the boys was out of his chair and running. I stared him down until he sat quietly. One of the moms witnessed this and said, "Wow, you've got the look down pat!" I said, "Yes, I've had a lot of practice this year!"

And then there are the things that come up that just make me laugh. 

• At the beginning of Math class one day, a boy raised his hand. I called on him, and he said, "One plus one equals one." "What do you mean?" I asked. "The Bible says that. When a man and a woman get married." "Um, yes, something like that," I said with a smile. We did not continue that conversation. (He must have been listening to the sermon on Sunday!)
• One girl came up to me one morning and said that she was sick the night before but was better now. She said she read a whole book and felt sick after that and threw up, but she didn't tell anyone. I said, "You mean your mom didn't know you threw up?!" She calmly said, "No, I didn't tell anyone." And she seemed to think reading the book was the cause of her sickness. Needless to say, I immediately started praying that she was better and that no one else would get sick and told her to run to the bathroom if she felt like she was going to throw up again! 
• On a Language worksheet, the students were supposed to write a sentence using the word "sweetest." Here are a couple sentences that made me chuckle: " 'Danny' is the sweetest boy in our class." (I wonder if "Danny" knows that.) "I am not the sweetest in our family." 
• The other day in Reading class, we read a story that had a mountain lion in it. One boy informed us that it was actually a bobcat. He could tell from the picture. I have no idea what the difference is, but he was adamant, and kept correcting me when I said mountain lion. Another boy crossed out mountain lion on his worksheet and replaced it with bobcat. I told them maybe the illustrator just drew the picture wrong, but it really bothered them. 

The Lord also gives me so many sweet moments to get me through the days. One girl wrote in her journal, "When I'm in 4th grade, I'll miss you!" She also gave me a note that said, "You are a great teacher. I love you so-o-o much!" Another sweet girl wrote me a note for no reason except to thank me for being her teacher. 

And so the countdown continues, whether I'm ready for the end of the year or not!