Life in Third Grade

    I love teaching third grade.  The kids aren’t too old, so they aren’t smart asses yet.  They’re not too young, so no nose wiping or pant zipping necessary.  Most are comfortable with the basics of reading, writing and math, so I can challenge them to think deeper and explain their ideas.  They are the middle children of Lower/elementary school.  No longer “babies,” but not as sure of themselves as fifth graders.  They’re in the midst of their early school years, observing then beginning to discover themselves as learners.    However, they are still kids and by Friday afternoon, no matter how much I love my class or teaching, I’m exhausted.  Most jobs can do this.  An experience from today explains why my job can be so tiring.    It’s 10:00am, morning recess has just ended.  My class is straggling in from the playground.  They trickle into the room trying to eek out seconds more of play time.  The last three enter the room loudly chatting.  The one in the middle has something he desperately needs to tell me.
    “Mrs. Johnson,” he says in a panic filled voice, “I lost something at recess.”  I patiently respond with the question, “What did you lose?”  Knowing that a third grader’s idea of an emergency and a teacher’s idea of an emergency is often very different.
    “I lost part of my recorder.”  Yesterday in Music every third grader was given a recorder for a five week unit.  Many had taken theirs to recess so they could practice.
    “What part did you lose?”  I asked.
    “My bracelet,” was his response.
    With raised eyebrows I asked, “A bracelet?”  In my head I was thinking, that’s not part of a recorder.  He explained, “She gave us bracelets to wear so we can remember which hand goes on top.”
    Now it was making sense and I had a decision to make.  Do I let him go back to the playground and search?  If I do he misses part of the directions.  Also, I’m sure the music teacher has extra bracelets and she’ll give him another later during music.  If I don’t let him search he’ll worry about it all day and be distracted.  Hmm.
    Just then a voice behind me says, “You lost your bracelet?  I know where it’s at.  I  can show you.”  Great, I think now two will miss directions.  However, they shouldn’t be long since they know where they’re going.  I make my decision.
    “Okay, go look, but be quick.”  They shake their heads yes and very seriously respond with, “We will.”
    A few minutes later they return.  “We couldn’t find it.”  They tell me.  I’m about to say that the music teacher probably has another bracelet when once again we are interrupted.
    “Was your bracelet orange?”  a boy asks, “ because I saw an orange one over by the slides.”  The owner of the missing bracelet confirms that his bracelet was indeed orange.
    “Go check by the slides.”  I say.
     At this point I’m a little frustrated with all the time we’re wasting, but decide to let him finish his search.
    Again he returns empty handed.  Since I let him look he’s less worried about his loss, because he knows he at least tried to find it.  He shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head, no.  He continues over to his cubby, taking off his coat and hanging it up.  It is at this point I hear a surprised, “OH!”
    This of course caused the whole class to turn their attention towards him.  Sheepishly blushing a deep red he held up his arm saying, “I found it.  It’s on my wrist.”  And that is a moment in the life of third grade and why the teacher is worn out at the end of the day.