Thank you Mrs. Lindberg

Do you know about squishies?  I wouldn't except I spend my days with third graders and, at least at Bonneville Elementary, they are ALL the rage.  They are small...squishy...toys.  That's all.  They don't do anything interesting except squish.  Also, when they get taken out to recess they get super dirty because the squishy surface is also a little sticky so they're pretty gross.

Still.  They are all the rage.

I had two girls who set up little houses? communities?  who knows? on top of their desks.  They would play with them and I was constantly reminding them to get back on task.  I knew that if I made them put everything inside their desks, they would only be playing in there when they should be listening.

So I remembered when I was in third grade.

Back then Smurfs were our thing.  Marie and Barbara and I made a Smurf village on a countertop in Mrs. Lindberg's classroom.  It was out of paper and cotton balls.  Mrs. Lindberg let us stay in at recess to work on it.  Was she doing that to keep us from playing in our desks with the Smurfs?  It never occurred to me until now that maybe she was.

I approached my students and offered them some real estate on the countertop.  I told them as long as I don't have recess duty, they can continue to work on it.

Everything was moved from their desks.  I am under strict instructions to guard because people like to steal squishies according to the girls.

The squishies aren't actually pictured here because the girls took them home.  They don't trust me THAT much.

Kindly ignore the stained countertop.  I asked the principal recently if I could take a sledge hammer to the entire thing and he said no.

I'm grateful for this little set up.  It's over on the counter and when they're at their desks, they won't be distracted.  

I think about my elementary teachers a lot.  I loved them all (except one who terrified me).  I'm standing on the shoulders of giants.  I appreciate the things they taught me.