Last week was...interesting...

Our new cleaning fish rocks work!

My assistant was out last week due to a stomach bug. I was fine by myself during the class because we only have seven students, which is within Ohio's ratio rules for one teacher. At lunchtime, a substitute/floater teacher came in to relieve me (I leave at 12:15 to pick my son up from his school). I get a text in the evening, "What do I do if egg shells get in the fish tank?" Apparently, while she was helping a student in the bathroom, another student decided to test the boundaries, and take fistfuls of crushed eggshells from our eggshell crushing work. Then the next morning while I was netting the rocks and eggshells out of the fish tank with some students the egg shells went down the toilet (then later a pair of socks) by the same student. The student walked quickly to the bathroom, and it looked as it he was clenching his cheeks because he really had to go to the bathroom. I thought very little of it because he it toileting independently. But then I heard laughter from the bathroom. So, I went to check and sure enough, the student had put a fistful of shells in the toilet, as well  As a result, the students responsible for the toilet today were not permitted to walk freely in the classroom for the remainder of work period, I brought them works they requested to the table. Then they worked on picking up the egg shells that were on the floor. The egg shell work is being removed from the classroom (hopefully after this testing phase is over we can add it back, because the ultimate goal is to make chalk with the egg shells). In addition, tomorrow the rocks from the aquarium will be dry and the students that were dumping the egg shells in the aquarium will spend tomorrow removing the shells from the rocks so we can put the rocks back in the aquarium. Another new rule will be that they may not close the bathroom door for privacy. They had been trustworthy up to this point in the bathroom, but with the bathroom experiments today we’ll put another layer of security on this. This is a great teachable moment. Our rules exist for a reason (to keep the fish safe, to not break the toilet) and to break those rules have consequences that aren’t fun. Breathe...