Spring, please hurry!

The past few weeks have seemed rather long with no snow days or delays. Nevertheless, I think it's safe to say that we're all ready for spring. Before the last big snow, I asked the students if they were excited. They answered with a collective groan and comments like, "I used to love snow, but not anymore." "I'm tired of snow!" and "I'm done with shoveling." Me too. But unlike my students, I'm not proclaiming that it's hot outside. Last Thursday they begged to eat lunch outside. It was 21 degrees.

They're getting antsy, which tests my patience. The beginning of the month, I switched their seats. Within an hour, I already had to move a couple of giggling boys. The other day in Bible class, we were listing five main events from the story about King Josiah we had just read. I called on one boy, and he said, "I got new sneakers yesterday." (What that had to do with King Josiah, I still can't figure out.) In the library one day, I was staring down a couple of boys who were talking after several reminders to be quiet. The one boy finally noticed me and stared back at me with the biggest, cheesiest grin ever. I lost. I smiled and looked away. One morning I commented to one of the boys that his haircut looked nice. "Yeah, my mom thinks I can think better and get better grades since I got a haircut." I thought to myself, In that case, let's have all the boys get haircuts! Whatever helps... like the boy who raised his hand and was upset because his leg was bleeding. I inspected the faint scratch and gave him a band-aid. The same thing happened with a girl a couple days later, except this time the scratch was on her hand. Sometimes I tell them if it's not bleeding a band-aid won't help. But sometimes I think, oh well, a band-aid is worth it if it makes them feel better and helps them focus on school work!

In Social Studies, we're studying Colonial times. I asked if they knew who the Quakers were. Some had ideas, but no one really knew. One girl, kind of confused, asked, "Isn't it a kind of oatmeal?"

My sports fans boys made me feel really old. I found myself explaining to them who Michael Jordan is. They had never heard of him until someone's sister told him that's who their shoes are named after.