First Graders, they are generally adorable. Whether they are mixing the words "hand" and "sanitizer" (unintentionally) and saying "hanitizer," or they are roping me into a rousing (for me) game of Duck Duck Goose, or even telling me that they were gone the last Friday because they were at a funeral (I was concerned until...) where they had a blast in the primary room. Perhaps, though, my favorite part of this last week of school was when they found the giant moth pictured above.
I was playing that game of Duck Duck Goose (where I was the goose almost every other turn) when three different kids came and told me three different tales. The first was the tale of a monster that fell from the roof causing all of the kids to scream. The second was, "Mrs. S! There's a poisonous bird over there!" The third was, "You have to come see the giant butterfly." The truth was some weird combination. The moth was innocently on the building when a kid knocked it down with a ball. It fell to the ground. As it tried to fly it appeared to be having a seizure (so observed yet another child) and kids were shouting about it being poisonous. Meanwhile the poor thing was being poked and prodded with sticks and fingers. When I went over there I made the mistake of asking, "Could someone gently pick up the moth and put it somewhere safe?" (Mistake highlighted for emphasis.) Immediately several shouts of "I can!" were heard while the moth was miraculously not squished by the many hands fighting to be the someone that I spoke of. Fortunately, after many shouts of, "GENTLY!" from me (which of course made me think of Princess Bride), the moth took off from someone's hand and slowly struggled through the air across the playground and to the other side of the street. We were all able to watch because it was big like unto a bird and colorful like unto a butterfly. That is the tale of the Monster Poisonous Bird Butterfly Moth.
The last day of school, the majority of the children abandoned their adorableness in favor of becoming monsters themselves. They pretty much decided that because the classroom was bare it meant the rules were not in place. When I entered the classroom Mrs. Olsen was with some of the students meeting their second grade teachers, but there were some kids in our classroom that had already met their teachers. They were running around and yelling. They had treats from their future teachers that they were not supposed to eat, but one boy came and said. "Mrs. Olsen told us not to eat these, but she isn't our teacher anymore so I don't have to listen!" I told him that Mrs. Olsen was definitely still his teacher for the day, and even if she wasn't she is a teacher and should be respected. He disagreed and continued to reign down chaos and lead the rebellion. Mrs. Olsen came back right about then, and I would like to think my speech about showing all teachers respect made the difference, but in all likelihood it is just easier to rebel against a teacher that is out of the room. Sadly (or maybe it is a good thing that will help me hold on to the memories of their adorableness) the rest of my time at school was spent without the children.
Thus ends my 2016-2017 school year in First Grade.
