The blue dots on their hands had escaped my notice until the 1^st graders were standing in line to leave and one of the girls thrust her hand to my nose and demanded, “smell this!”.  As with anything a kinder or 1^stgrader does, immediately six or seven other little hands were pushing towards my nose demanding “smell this!”.  Being slightly afraid of all the dirty little hands (you know they are), I backed up a bit and responded “hmmm, smells good!”.  I hope they did.  It didn’t smell bad, but I didn’t really get close enough to get more than a faint whiff of something slightly fruity, which I guess is good.

But those aren’t the only smells wafting around my classroom.  At the other end of the spectrum (no pun intended), I can always tell when some 5^th grade boy decides to be free and let loose when I observe all the heads that begin to disappear within their t-shirts in the hopes of avoiding the not so fragrant odor. All the uncontrollable giggles follow soon thereafter.  Sometimes there is a look of pride coming from the offending person, sometimes they try to look away as if to say, “no, it wasn’t me!”.  In the meantime, every girl in the vicinity has rolled their eyes, made faces that say, “oh no you didn’t” and begin scooting away from the direction of the societal infraction.  

Once and I can forgive – after all, accidents happen.  But when it happens a couple more times, we have the talk I had with my sons when they were at that stage.  For heaven’s sake, please don’t subject us all to that odor, just go to the restroom.  Of course, that would mean they would have to admit to it, and they’re not about to do that.  Oh the joys.

Sometimes they walk in and say, “I smell cookies or cake”.  That’s because I buy hand lotion that smells like that.  Makes them crazy because they want to know where the goodies are.  I’m not telling them.  There are so many things that distract kids through their senses.  In a room full of things they can touch and hear and vocalize with, why not add things you can smell and see?

Like last week, when I looked at the end of my line of students getting ready to leave my class and I saw and heard a little ruckus going on.  Questioning their choice of behavior, they all say at once, “Mrs. Bush, there’s a raccoon outside!”  I should have walked down there, to check out the excitement that is a raccoon out on a sunny afternoon in front of the school, but I kicked into teacher mode and asked them something like, can you be in control, or do I need to close the blinds?  “No, no!” and they immediately face forward.  I kicked myself later for kicking into teacher mode and forgetting how exciting it is to see a raccoon at school.  If it WAS a raccoon….

Then, with the sensory overload and bodily function noises and smells, come bodily fluids and other things.  Like the kid who decided to wipe his nose on a handout on purpose (I was actually glad when the other kids tattled on him) or the kids who get nosebleeds or pick their scabs, squeeze them like crazy and demand the band-aid.  I tell them to get a tissue and hold it on it until the bleeding stops.  Saves on band-aids.  Or the kids playing with the band-aids they already have to see the scraped-up knee, over and over again.  (It’s always knees).  I told them initially that no band-aids unless there’s blood or guts, so they’re producing blood to get them. Never challenge an elementary kid.

Despite the focus on bodily function and fluids, it’s part of what makes kids fun.  No, not the actual bodily functions and fluids, but the honesty of it all.  A kid, no matter where they’re from, is just a kid.   They’re excited about the mundane, fascinated with all things gross and socially unacceptable, sometimes getting their little hands right in your face to share and experience it all with them.  It’s also why not everyone is suited to teach elementary school.