Mar 25 2011
Room 1B’s Busy Bees
We have arrived once again at the naming of the class team for the boosterthon fun run to raise money for playground equipment at the kids school. The kids raise pledges per lap based on running thirty five laps, and their classes compete against one another for prizes. (ice cream party, a day to wear casual clothes, etc.)
Last year, many of you may remember how disappointed Zeke was when his class did not choose his name idea, “Chicken Gravy Superior.” Not losing heart, and attempting to be clever, this year he put forth “Room 1B’s Busy Bees” as his name choice in the vote.
His class resides in room 1B and his teacher uses little bees to represent each child on the behavior chart. There are different color bee hives that a child’s bee can be sent to based on his behavior: green, yellow, and red. When the child misbehaves, she must get up and move her bee to a certain hive, depending on the extent of her misbehavior.
If a child’s bee ends up behind the last hive, things become pretty grim and a visit to the principal with his parents is on the books. Zeke’s bee has occasionally moved locations, but never beyond the hives. The first time his bee moved was when he was trying to noisily extract the last drop of water out of his water bottle. His teacher told him to put the bottle down, but he was “so thirsty” and needed another drink. I have my own suspicions as to why that last drink was so needed. Occasionally, I have observed after I have told him to stop something, he seems to have a great desire to do it just one more time. Interestingly, I have observed this trait in my dear husband a few times over the years.
I do not think Zeke had calculated that a few student’s in his class may not have had fond thoughts of the bees in room 1B. Unfortunately, this led to another year where his name choice received one vote, his own. The class voted to become “Mrs. Cole’s Cool Kids” instead. Zeke’s only consolation was “At least I didn’t come in last place.” Some kids chose not to vote for their own name recommendation. Therefore, those choices received no votes.
Meanwhile, Gabe is once again lobbying his class to choose “Funky Monkeys” for their name. His teacher this year has promised that if “Funky Monkeys” wins the vote, she will not overrule the choice like his fourth grade teacher did. The girls in Gabe’s class are launching a counter choice in an attempt to defeat him. Gabe’s teacher has declared that once the vote is in, if she hears any complaints, she will choose their name for them, and it will be “Mrs. Antosh’s Sweet Cupcakes”.
Life is full of risks.
