Have Holes - Will Fill

Yesterday, my Language Arts Class built "Puff Mobiles." These are "vehicles" that are built using a specific number of items. They are totally created by the imagination and skill of the builder. One of the items used was a straw. Some of the students used only a portion of their straws and so little bits dropped to the floor. In the clean-up process not all these pieces were thrown away. Which brings me to part 2 of my story.

In the afternoon, my match class was about to take their first "Math Fact Test." You would think that the students were taking the ACT or LSAT. They were so nervous about this. (Even though they were the +1 and +0 facts. How scary can that be?) As we were just about to start, one of my students begins to plug one nostril and blow air AND snot out the other nostril. He continues doing this at a rapid fire rate. Then he raises his hand and says, "Mrs. Grant. My nose hurts." In my most disgusted sympathetic voice I said, "Do you think you need a tissue?"  He just looked at me.

Well, that was enough of a lull in the test taking process that now about 10 students need their pencils sharpened. I head back to the sharpener and have "The Nose" come with me. As he walks to the back of the room he says, "I have a straw stuck up my nose."  blow blow blow blow blow

"You've gotta be kidding me!" I said right out loud. I told him that I would help him as soon as I got the students started on their tests. He smiled and continues to blow. Then he touched his nose and said, "I can feel it clear up here." That straw was way up there. That's when I realized this was a job for a pair of tweezers and not my tweezers. He would be visiting the Principal.

Three more pencils to go and we would be off to visit "the boss," as he is referred to by my students. "The Nose" grabs a new tissue and scrunches up his face, closes his eyes, and blows harder than he has ever blown before. Out shoots an inch long portion of a straw and plenty of boogers. Suddenly, "The Nose" says, "Hey it doesn't hurt anymore. Is it out?" To this a little girl that had been standing in the pencil line looks up at him and runs her left hand down her right arm and said, "YES," as she wiped all that snot away.

"The Nose" smiled and skipped back to his seat while the little girl and I got some soap, water, and anti-bacterial gel.

Awww! Never a dull moment in 2nd grade.