Recess

Remember recess? That much anticipated time of day when you could just run around the playground and do whatever you wanted? I got to witness recess again at one of the elementary schools I'm teaching at. It went something like this:

Boy with ball: "Miss, this ball can bounce higher than any other ball."
Me: "Oh?"
Boy with ball: "Yup! I'll show you." Boy with ball runs over to the covered walkway outside his classroom. "I can make it touch the ceiling." Bounces ball. "See?"
Me: "Wow. That was really high." Boy with ball runs away, beaming.

To my left are some over-sized tires, on their sides and half buried in the ground. Three girls are playing a game where they stand on these tires and shout fruit at each other:

Girl on green tire: "Hey orange! Hey orange! Hey orange!"
Girl on orange tire: "Hey pear! Hey lemon!"
Girl on yellow tire: "Hey pear! Ok, now we have to switch." They scurry down, change tires and continue calling to each other. Fruit seems to correspond to the color tire they are on. Another girl walks by and they call out to her to join them. Only they know the rules to this game.

I turn behind me to see a boy run up to the flag pole and cling to it out of breath, shouting: "I win, 'cause I touched the pole first!"

Sometimes I miss those days.

Also, I had a boy in class last week who, when asked to say his name, repeated the phrase "I like cheese" and giggled. I informed him that I also liked cheese but was worried that he'd forgotten his name. The other kids in class started whispering his name to him to help out! I have no idea what 4th graders find funny, but I love them for it.