The dreaded heat has arrived....

Sweaty forehead, sweaty pits, frequent showers to smell and feel better, and outside temperatures peaking to the 100's have arrived. The other day, one of my students asked after making an observation when I raised my hands up, "Ms. Durocher, why do you have wet spots on your shirt?" A clever question....now where's the clever response? I have a hard time coming up with the quick humorous answers. Needless to say, there was a short Science discussion on sweating and its function. These kids are very blunt and that's not even the worst question I've been asked. A couple of times, I've been asked, "Where do babies come from?" Luckily even without preparing for a question like that, I had a quick reply, "That would be a good question for you to ask Mom and Dad."

It's fascinating and scary about the things these 3rd graders know. Almost 2 weeks ago we did a ladybug unit in writing and science. One day, we went out to our school's field and collected ladybugs for an afternoon observation. Brought them back to the classroom and I thought there wouldn't be any major problems. One slight factor. I told the groups they could get up to three ladybugs in their observation cup. What I should have told them was to get only 1 per cup. Well, it must have been mating season for the ladybugs because students were shouting out, "Ms. Durocher, our ladybugs are having sex!" The whole classroom heard it. I pushed through the gathering crowd of students and had to have a mini-discussion about not using that word. Frankly, I didn't knows what to say but a thought came to my mind. I told the other groups to return to their seats and I quietly shared with the group whose ladybugs were making quite the scene, how in nature this is called mating. I left it at that. Later on I reflected on my reactions and felt grateful for Heavenly Father giving me the thoughts to say and react how I did considering the tricky situation. Being a teacher is sometimes almost like parenting but possibly trickier as I have to careful put my thoughts into words in a way parents won't find it inappropriate. Whew! I sure was glad when the ladybugs were released. At the same time, my sudden nerves for the uncertainty of events became relaxed too.