Lost Child

The day started out rough. I awoke nearly an hour later then I attended, which resulted in me arriving much later to my classroom than I prefer. Things only got worse when I realized I forgot to put coconut oil in my hair--a grave error when I wear it down. By the time school started, I truly looked like I had put my finger in a socket. To make matters worse, I couldn't put it up because I had no hair ties. I eventually resorted to a rubber band that I took out of my supply drawer. It was far to small and tore my hair. I kid you not, I looked truly atrocious. The continued along this path of bedlam. Scheduling was once again thrown off as we had an assembly in the afternoon--right in the middle of our block schedule. At the end of the assembly the children were given an extraordinary amount of ice cream. Because organization is not one of LWSs strong points, crowds of dozens and dozens of children were all clamoring for their treat. As a result, I sent several of my children to my classroom with my aide as I waited for a few stragglers to receive their cone. Bad plan...

Shortly after I returned to the classroom I found my students dutily sitting in their chairs, enjoying their ice cream. I praised them for their patience and then proceeded to instruct them to silently read their library books. Now, one must understand that my classroom is very structured, but their is an amount of freedom. They don't have to ask me to go to the bathroom or take a drink of water. They just grab the pass and go, as long it is during a time when I am not instructing the whole group. Anyway, everything seemed to be proceeding as normal until my aid approached me with a look of concern on his face. He said, "Maddy said that Johnny left." Now I knew that Johnny was having a rough day. He had been very moody because he was supposed to get to spend some time with his dad, but his mom was not going to return in time from Rapid to take him. Therefore, when I realized he was indeed gone, I asked my aide to go and check the boy's bathroom, though the pass was still hanging on the wall. He came back soon after, shrugging in the negative. Concerned, I asked him to go check the nurse and his mom's office in the high school. Meanwhile, I tried to fight back the feelings of genuine fear that welled up within me. I didn't want to alarm my children, so I waited for my aide to come back with news. It wasn't good--Johnny appeared to be gone. At this point, I knew I was going to have to get the class involved. I called Maddy over and asked her if she had actually seen Johnny leave. She said that she hadn't, her big soulful eyes gazing up at me. I then asked the entire class if anyone had seen him. All of their heads began to shake vigorously. One little girl mentioned that she hadn't seen him in the crowd getting ice cream. Several others contributed their theories. Meanwhile, my head was spinning and my heart thumping.

I turned to my aide, concern nearly choking me. I was about to order him to report that a child was missing to the principal and security when I heard a rustling sound behind me. To my utter astonishment, Johnny crawled out from underneath the row of computers and a large fan, his book held securely in his hand.

"Johnny! Where have you been??!! Have you been there this whole time?"

He merely grinned. It was then I heard the laughter...too much laughter. Every child in the room was nearly rolling on the carpet with laughter. My aide was particularly amused. It took me a few more minutes to realized that I was a victim of a brutal prank by the children of Room 170 and my 'trustworthy' aide! I later learned that my principal was even involved--she was prepared to act horrified when I reported the incident!

Needless to say, I wanted to smack someone! I told my children I was going to tell my mamma that they were picking on me...

B