Sweeties and Sweets

School has started with the rush of new kids in the hallway, new families to meet, and new faces in my classroom.  It’s a thrilling, busy, frantic, exhilarating time!

In the afternoon on our first day together, I faced my group of eight-year-olds and described the activity they would do in teams.  It involved building towers using only dry spaghetti pieces, tape, string, and a marshmallow.  It was almost nearly impossible to do, but they would learn a whole lot about teamwork, grit, and starting again during the process.  As I described the task and took their items out of a sack, their eyes lit up when they saw the marshmallows.

“Ooooh…can we eat those?”

I knew that question was coming, and I thought I was ready for it.  I reminded them that they would be building with the one marshmallow that their team received and that it would be pretty grimy when they were finished with it.

They were undeterred.

“What about the REST OF THE BAG?” they pointed out, their eyes greedy with anticipation.

One of my boys piped up suddenly and asked about the ingredients.  I knew he had some dietary restrictions, but I hadn’t anticipated any issues with marshmallows.  I checked the ingredients and read them out loud—and sure enough, he announced that he wouldn’t be sharing any with us.

Before I had time say another word, one of my other boys shrugged and said matter-of-factly, “Well…if R can’t have one then we all aren’t having any.”

And that was that.  Not one of them said another word about eating marshmallows and they went off to build their sticky, fragile towers together.

And that moment right there, as I sat still holding the mostly full bag of marshmallows, was the moment that I knew–these kids already have the answers about how people work together.  They know all about acceptance, and caring for each other.  They are unafraid of “different” and embrace the beautiful diversity of their classmates and friends.  They are going to lead the way for the adults who haven’t learned these lessons yet.

They have won my heart, right from the very beginning.