Tomorrow is the last day of the after school program for the school year. The kids have all been acting like they couldn't wait for summer to start for several weeks. They're all finishing up all of their classwork on top of the testing that we have them do at the end of the year to see if they've learned anything (their favorite thing of all!).
Story #1: Mike* finished his tests before today and he finished his homework early on in the day. Normally we have them read when there's nothing else to do, but he asked if he could help other kids with their homework. I've known Mike for a few years, and I'm convinced he's going to grow up to be a comedian. So I was skeptical when he asked this, he may be trying to use this as an excuse to talk to his friends. I decided to give him a shot and specifically instructed him that he couldn't give anyone the answers, but he had to show them how to do the work so that they know how to without help later. I kept an eye on him and he actually did really well! At one point, he walked past me saying "I'm FINALLY responsible for something!"
Story #2: One of the options available to the kids who had finished both their homework and their test today was an art project. It was a flower-shaped color wheel that they were just supposed to cut out and fold the petals inward. I think they were supposed to write things on each petal too. Something nice to give to a friend? I digress. Rita* was starting to cut out her flower when Peter* (who is actually in 6th grade and was just helping out too) walked by and noticed she was doing it wrong. So he stopped next to me and quietly told me that she wasn't cutting it along the right lines. I looked over, saw that it was Rita, and told him "Don't worry, it's Rita. She'll work it out." A minute later, she finished cutting, realized her mistake, flipped the flower over, folded it in a few places, and said, "Look! I made a spider!" Peter's reaction: "I can't believe that worked!"
Story #3: Second to last day of the program means the second to last day of gym games. The group was almost evenly split between wanting to play soccer and wanting to play kickball, so I split the gym in half and let them play what they wanted to play. Only, sometimes the ball from one game would intrude into the space of the other, or players from one game would join the other, and every so often it would all morph into one game of dodgeball with goals and bases.
Sorry about the lack of sound. My phone is terrible.
Story #4: During gym games, I finally realized why Ally* had been acting out and being outright disobedient lately. I'm pretty sure she has a crush on Ronnie*, who the other kids say is a handful at school, though he seemed to be trying at the program up until this week. She's been trying to show off! Of course, this could all be totally wrong. Maybe it's all conjecture. But while she denied it when I asked her, she was smiling while she said it and not acting grossed out by the implication, like they usually do when they're confronted with the possibility of liking someone they don't actually like.
All these kids are in 4th or 5th grade.
*Names have been changed.
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