Hilarity at Morning Circle

My class made me laugh so hard yesterday morning that I cried, and one of my contacts came out.

Tyshaun came in angry (as is so often the case). We sat down for Morning Circle, and I knew immediately from the thunderous look on his face that he was upset. There is nothing subtle about Tyshaun's moods.

I commented that he looked unhappy, and asked if he was mad at me. (I'm usually the one he's mad at.) He shook his head, his face hidden in his arm, while the class watched.

"Are you mad at a student?" I asked. The back of his head moved up and down.

Someone said the name of a student he was upset at, from another class, and Tyshaun nodded again.

"Do you want to go talk to him?" I asked. His head went back and forth. No.

"Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?" Back and forth again. "Is there anything the class can do to help you feel better?" Nope. "Okay, well, if you think of something we can do, let us know."

By now his eyes has begun to emerge from his arms. Soon it was his turn to greet the students sitting on either side of him. His head went back into its hiding place, but I thought I could sense his mood lightening a little, so I tried to make him laugh by making a face. Against his will, a smile spread across his face for a second. I knew we were okay then. The class was laughing, pleased that Tyshaun was coming out of it. Then Ivan pretended to greet the students next to Tyshaun, in a falsetto that sounded nothing like Tyshaun's voice, and we all collapsed with laughter. It was probably partly because I'm a little coldy that tears started to roll down my cheeks. I rubbed my eyes, and found a contact in my hand.

Morning Circle pretty much degenerated from that point. I got the contact safely back into my eye, and we tried to move on, but fits of giggles kept taking over all of us, including me. Finally we had to do some deep breathing so we could get serious enough to finish the circle and move on to writing.

Fun times in second grade.