Good, Clean Fun

It's been hot here this week. Hot like the middle of August, with the humidity to go along with it. It started to show itself last week when I took the kids to the library. We had some cooler days after that, and then bam! it was back. Oh, and we don't have air conditioning in school. I tried to give the kids a "when I was young" speech the other day about how I had to wear a wool skirt and long-sleeved blouse to school where my classroom was on the third floor. They didn't really care. It didn't ease the pain of suffering through being hot.

Fortunately, we had 2 activities this week which got them outside, but also got them wet to cool off. The first was field day on Thursday. The gym teacher organized a bunch of games that the kids could play. They rotated through all the stations with a team throughout the afternoon. It was cool because all the teams were mixed of third, fourth and fifth graders. I was sure to split my rough boys up and any other cliques that would detract from the fun. The kids had a ball. Some of the games involved water, and the kids took full advantage of those to cool off. I didn't get drenched like some of the kids, but I did stand close enough to some of the games to get a sprinkling. That felt good.

On Friday, as part of our Friday special activity, we had a water fight. The gym teacher let me borrow her buckets and water squirters. I forgot how kids just love getting wet, especially on hot days. We filled up the buckets and took them to a far corner of the playground. We didn't want other classes that were out for recess to get wet, so we were sure to be far away. Then the drenching ensued. It was neat to watch the progression of it all. The hesitation of someone going up to another person to get them wet, the other person frozen with fear, then running away, and finally letting in when they got soaked. I stood back for a moment to just watch the kids play. The rough boys weren't there again, so it was perfect.

About five minutes into it, one of the kids came up to me with a sly grin on her face. She was holding the squirter so the end was pointed at me. I was waiting for someone to get me. I wanted to get wet. The sun was beating down and it was hot. I ran away from her to make it seem like I didn't want to get wet. She caught up to me and gave me a good dousing. Ah, did that feel nice. But it didn't stop there. I was actually dripping when we got done. My shoes were soaked to the point where they sloshed when I walked. I didn't care. The kids were having a blast, they were cool, and they were squirting each other. At one point, one of the boys said, "This is the best activity ever!" Yay for me, I thought. "Well," he added, "This and the library are the best." Yay for me again.

One of my favorite memories of the water fight was a moment at the beginning. (I didn't take pictures because I was afraid my camera was going to get wet). The buckets were getting drained pretty quickly, so I told the kids to carry the buckets to the hose so we could fill them up again. As we made our way over to the hose, I looked over at one of the kids carrying one of the buckets. Some background - she is one of my students who has a lot of challenges. She comes from a really rough background, and her erratic behavior is a result of this. For the most part she is a great kid. But she has her moments. As we walked, she stopped and picked up the bucket with the remaining water in it and lifted it above her head. Like a moment from a Superbowl victory, she turned the bucket over and dumped it on herself. She just stood there and blinked her eyes while the water ran down her face. She had the biggest grin on her face. I laughed out loud. And I couldn't stop laughing. It was a combination of surprise, disbelief, and release.

I was so happy that these kids could just be kids for a moment. The way that I remember. Free from all the violence and sadness that they see at home or on TV or wherever. Free to just play, and laugh, and run, and have fun.

And how could we possibly top this? We ended the time with bomb pop popsicles. As the blue liquid dripped onto my hand, I thought to myself, this is what it's all about.