Valentine's Day/Ash Wednesday

Surprisingly, my class was much calmer today, even with all the candy and assorted treats they've been consuming all day!

Our chapel message was about how people show love for each other on Valentine's Day and how God shows his love for us, so love was on the brain when they got back to class. As we picked our Daily 5 rounds, they asked what my farmer and I were doing for Valentine's Day. "Going to church of course!" I answered. "And eating takeout spaghetti from the 7-8th grade Lenten supper." 

My students kept going with the idea, "So after you're done eating, you'll maybe watch a movie."

"And pop some popcorn!"

"And you'll both reach in the bowl at the same time and grab each other's hands!"

"Oooo! And there will be a ring in the bowl!"

"Miss H! That might be your Valentine present!!!"

"You could get engaged on Valentine's Day!!!!" the girls were almost in hysterics.

"Nope. Too obvious," was my totally calm reply. Then my mischievous side snuck in, "I'm going to tell him you said that!"

"WHAT?!"

"Okay, moving on!"

The rest of the morning was uneventful compared to that. They did convince me to listen to music this morning during Daily 5. "It's Valentine's Day, Miss H!" they cajoled, "and Ash Wednesday! It's a special day!" But they weren't able to convince me to read more of our read-aloud book. We started a new one yesterday, All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook. 

Other classes must have had their parties at the end of the day (we did ours at snack time) because little ones from other classrooms kept up a sporadic stream of valentine card deliveries while I tried to teach my class science. My after school snack stash is back to brimming again! It is so sweet that they thought of me! One 4th grader handed me his and explained, "I only wrote Emily on the card because I didn't know how to spell your last name."

We tried giving Joe the tortoise a little Valentine treat... a chunk of apple (which he loved), a bit of banana, and a tidbit of pineapple. The pineapple must not have sat well with him. We noticed him foaming at the mouth a little and using his tongue to lick the roof of his mouth. Then he pawed at his face with one of his front legs. We've never seen him do that before! I tried wiping his mouth out, but he didn't want me touching his face and went in his shell. Someone had the great idea to give him a bath, and when we did, he stuck his face underwater and rinsed out his mouth. Too tangy? Too rough on the tongue? Whatever the reason, we will avoid pineapple from now on.