End of the Year Restlessness

When I went to pick up my students after lunch yesterday I knew instantly that something was wrong because half of the class ran from the line to tell me about several incidents of fighting between the classmates. I hate when that happens. I told the kids to get back in line and we would deal with it when we returned to class.

One of the incidents involved a student who supposedly hit two other classmates. When we debriefed, it turns out that she bumped into the other kids in line and really didn't maliciously hit her peers. That was easy!

The other incident was different. There was some name calling between two boys. I wanted to handle their incident in private, outside. When we got outside I asked the boys what happened. Here is a recap of that scenario:

Boy 1: "Ms. V. he said that I was a Cheerio."

Me: What?

Boy 2: "I didn't say that you look like a Cheerio. I said that you looked like one when you were a baby!"

Me: "What? A Cheerio? What is this Cheerio phrase ... what does it mean? Is it some new word that is supposed to mean something mean...tell me about this Cheerio word."

Boy 2: "It's just a joke?"

Me: "What? A joke?"

Boy 2: "Yeah, it is supposed to be funny?"

Me: "Really, funny, huh? Do I look like I am amused? Does your best friend look like he is laughing?

Boy 2: "Um, no"

Me: "I think that you should really think about the things you say to others. Words can be very hurtful. You should also remember that good friends are hard to come by and you need to treat your friends with the utmost respect. Now let's go back inside and I hope that you can figure out how to rework your friendship."

We then went on to take a math test. After Boy 2 finished his test he asked if he could have a piece of paper to write an apology letter. I of course said yes. He returned about 5 minutes letter with one of the sweetest apology letters ever. I was so shocked to see the letter because this boy hates to write. I guess that he had good motivation though in wanting to make peace with his buddy.

By the time we went to P.E. the boys were friends again.

Such is life in second grade when you are getting towards the end of the school year.

15 more days to go....