During Teacher appreciation week we were showered with lovely gifts from the PTO, students, and admin. One of my students gave me cute little gift basket, with a few treats, a gift card, and a chocolate chip cookie.
THURSDAY
9:20: Received gift from appreciative student. Placed gift on desk.
9:45: Kindergarten shows up. We sing, dance, laugh, and they go.
10:30: Fourth grade comes
11:05: One fourth grader playfully asks, "Ms. S, are you gonna eat your cookie? Can I have it?" Of course I said no...and we laughed and finished up our class.
10:15: Fourth grade leaves, and the cookie is still in its place, on my desk, in the gift basket. Third grade shows up
11:59: Third grade lines up to leave.
12:00 Third grade walks out the door into the hall.
12:01: As I'm gathering my stuff to go to lunch, I went to grab the cookie to eat for dessert...only it wasn't there!
Since I didn't see it happen, I couldn't accuse anyone. But I knew that I could rule out the kindergartners and the fourth graders. That only leaves 3rd grade, so I had to do a 3 minute CSI reconstruction of the scene (in my head).
When the kids line up to leave, the line starts at the door and makes an "L" shape. The line turns along my desk, but that's usually only five or six kids at the end of the line. So, I had my suspect pool...
Luckily, they were still in the hallway outside my room (traffic jam), so I walked out and calmly asked if anyone had picked up something that wasn't theirs. I never said what it was. Most of the students at the back of the line said no, with very convincing looks of shock that anyone would take something from me.
I knew that someone had it, so I simply asked, "Are you sure?" And then...
Guilty party 1 (pulls crumbled cookie out of jacket pocket): I didn't take the cookie! [Guilty party 2] put it in my pocket!"
Guilty party 2 (look of shock): No I didn't!
As usual when kids get caught, it was always "someone else" who told them to do it.
Meanwhile, the other kids are just oblivious to what was going on, and the line started moving, so I pulled the two students aside.
Me (very calmly): It's very disrespectful to take things off of someones desk. I wouldn't come to your home and take from you.
GP 1 (loud and crying): I DON'T STEAL! I DON'T DO THAT!
Me: I didn't say you stole anything, but you did have it in your possession.
GP 1: BUT I DIDN'T TAKE IT!
So after getting the two of them out of the hallway (because it was turning into a huge scene with this child screaming "I'm not a thief!"), the story was: GP 2 told GP 1 to take the cookie. GP 1 said no, so GP 2 took it and put it in GP 1's pocket.
Sound sketchy??? It should because it was. The consequence was a loss of Friday privileges, during which time they had to come and "reflect" on the incident with me while their class did fun stuff. I also called their parents.
That should have been the end of it, but of course the story always changes once the kids go home...
To be continued...
