Attack of the Killer 3rd and 4th Graders

I just finished the first two full weeks of school and everything is going great. I am living about a half mile from the Niger River in a guest apartment that is operated by Avant ministries. My girlfriend Sara is on the other side of the river about a mile away, and the school is another mile past her.

In the classroom, we have the usual math, reading, science, spelling, and bible; they are split by grade level, 5^th and 6^th.  The kids are fantastic. There is one from England, one from Ghana, two from Sweden, one from Germany, and one from Alabama.

Here is an example of just how good and nice these kids are. I had been teasing Sarah before we left the States that I was going to train my class to attack her classroom. Once we got here and started getting into the flow of things, I thought it would be fun to flesh out some of those threats in a silly way and the kids were more than eager to get involved in some mischief. The worst we could come up with was to sing a little song to violate their ears. Understandably, the 3^rd and 4^th graders were a little dumbfounded when our class came in singing our song, and rumor has it, they began immediately to plot their revenge.

The next few days went by without incident, but then I sensed an attack was on the horizon when I got an innocent looking text message from Miss. Silberstein asking if my class was busy. I replied a simple no and braced for the worst. My class was as peaceful as mud puddle on a cloudless day when their class came in with a chant. Then they fired. Paper ball after paper ball whizzed by my head and bounced off the surprised bodies of my students. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they left –running actually. It took my students no time to devise all sorts of devious plans to get back at those lowly 3^rd and 4^th graders; “lets write on their board when they are at lunch!” one girl cried.

That next Friday –yesterday, we had an all school chapel on self control, after which the power went out in the school. It was too dark for us to do the reading assignment I had planned, so we had a discussion about what it means to have self control. Somehow, the discussion moved to the 3^rd and 4^th graders. My students wanted to exhibit self control through this situation and they came up with some great ideas; each of them made a paper box and decorated it, the boys each contributed a note telling them that our class wanted to be friends, and they invited Miss Silberstein’s class to a chocolate party two Fridays from then.

When we delivered the peace offerings and notes, the 3^rd and 4^th graders looked a little worried. But, I think by the end of the “attack” they were ready to join us for some chocolate!