Mimi and her big chicken

Here's Mimi, a graduating 3rd grader, and her big chicken pillow. You can't see her because she's camera-shy, but you can see a larger version of what many of the students bring to school. Most students have some kind of pillow on hand to make sleeping at their desks more comfortable.

Any given class has at least one sleeping kid. I'm at wits end with trying to keep the kids awake, but short of offering candy, I'm not sure what to do. Waking them up doesn't do much good. The coteachers put up valiant efforts to no avail too. Oh well. More on his later.

The beginning of the Snowball Wars

Though some snow fell earlier, it's come out in force today. The kids have begun the 2012-2013 Snowball Wars in earnest this afternoon.

It's good to see them having fun and letting loose before exams start on Wednesday. They need a break from all the pressure. Seeing them run around also reminds me of these few things:

--Aside from fretting over the snow getting tracked into the school, the teachers don't seem to mind the students and their horsing around. Most of the time they let the kids do what they want (within reason) between classes anyway.

--We couldn't ever throw or even make snowballs in grade school at recess.

--We never had time to play in the snow during middle school and high school because we had 4-5 minutes between classes and a barely-there lunch period.

--The students look genuinely happy. Good for them.