Two little girls in first grade came up to me and sweetly said, "We pooped our pants!" I looked at them, smiled, and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't think so. You would be acting much differently if you did." One of the girls explained that she once did poop her pants and she got to go home. Ah, this clarifies the situation. "Sorry. girls, you need to stay at school!"
Due to being close to the American River, geese appear on the playground in the morning. I've noticed than everyone refers to the geese as dinosaurs. Advanced dinosaurs, maybe. A lot of dinosaurs on the mind at this school. For example, a laughing girl ran past me, and, apropos of nothing said, "I do NOT run like T-Rex!"
In class, one of the students, who is clearly amused by having an old guy in the class, came up to talk. This is the same guy who showed me a clever handshake two weeks ago, which he and his friends call 'dabbing' (which is exactly the same clever handshake we used in the early Seventies).
He said, "The teacher, she is older than the hills, but you! You are much, much older! You remember the end of the Cretaceous Era; the end of the dinosaurs! You had to wrestle creatures like this," showing me a pencil drawing of a Plesiosaur that he had just made. "What was it like back then?" he asked. "Well, times were really hard," I explained. "The asteroid impact was terrible." "How did you survive?" he asked. "Well, I was underground," I explained. "You must have been pretty deep!" he said. "28,000 feet deep!" I explained.
At one point, I was assisting a first grade student in answering a badly-worded question, and I helped him choose the wrong answer. It's sad to think that I can't do first grade work. I'll probably have to start my education again, from the beginning.
Recess. It's strange to be in a place where everyone runs to get where they want to go. Except for that one guy, standing stock still, and staring blankly at a wall. I don't know what that's all about.
The kids like to make the old guy do unfamiliar things. "Put your fingers together like this," one girl indicated - thumb to middle finger = "and say 'Clock It!'" I warily complied, worried that I might be mimicking some disagreeable anime character, but apparently it's just current Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha slang. There are videos on YouTube and TikTok about 'Clock It!'. Another girl came up and deployed imaginary lasers and overwhelming electricity against my force field. I swung my water bottle against her cascade of energy but she had thrown up shields of infinite resistance. I noticed that another student, the one I dubbed Anxiety Girl several weeks ago, seems to be coming more out of her shell. She was even doing a little bit of hopscotch at lunchtime. Hopscotch by herself, of course, but Progress nonetheless!
During after-school Club M, one of the teaching assistants put "Kpop Demon Hunters" on an underpowered Chromebook to occupy the students. With just a few exceptions, everyone stopped what they were doing in order to sing in unison with their heroes. Remarkable!
Leaving Club M, one of the girls dropped this drawing on the sidewalk. I picked it up. First Halloween drawing of the year. Sort of "Hello Kitty" with scars.
Leaving Club M, one of the girls dropped this drawing on the sidewalk. I picked it up. First Halloween drawing of the year. Sort of "Hello Kitty" with scars.
