The end is nigh

Term 4 just started, and I've met all my new 6/7 students - about 75 of them. Day One is me talking at them all block, much to their chagrin. New to the lecture are Rules #1 and #2. Rule #1 - Do not enter the room and ask me "Are we cooking today?" If we are cooking, you will know about it, and you will not need to ask. Rule #2 - Do not enter the room and ask "Are we knitting today"? Similarly, if we are starting to knit, you will know about it, and it won't happen before mid-term. Rule #3 is "Do not enter the room and ask "What are we doing today?" I, seriously, cannot take another term of hearing that 75 - 100 times a day.

Term 4... warm weather, grade seven-itis, and class lists that show that whoever planned the classes has a wicked sense of humour. Truly, they saved the best for last... some wonderful kids, and some horrible combinations of ... um... interesting characters.

Lots of my Green Team leadership students are contained in this term, which is nice. A cluster of my beginning ELL students have also arrived. It's nice that they like each other enough to sit together, but I'm quite honestly going to have to assign a translator to that group. My beginners may speak enough English to get by, but they're in for a shock when they find out that my ELL teacher voice and my Home Ec teacher voice run at completely different speeds. As an ELL teacher, I'm pretty mellow, but as a Home Ec teacher on Food Lab days, I'm a little intense.

Food allergy lists look pretty manageable this time round. No phobias, no unusual allergies. Looks like I can stick with the tried and true recipes, although I may let them do one of the Grade 8 recipes. The cookies were a real challenge for the not-very-attentive 8s, but might be an appropriate challenge for my I-still-want-to-please-the-teacher younger classes.

However, this is the cohort that led me to remove the knives from the units. I think I should get another fire extinguisher. And a first aid kit.

I have this on my desk. They don't get it.

Questions - headdesk or just facepalm?

This week's submission:

Why do we have to learn about farms and stuff; what's that got to do with food?

And last week's:

Water... Oh! Why is the ocean blue? Is it really because it's 70% whale sperm?

New -

Student - Are we going to learn about alchemy?
Me - Why would we learn how to turn lead into gold, what do you think that has to do with Home Ec?
Him - Oh. I thought that meant healing diseases with plants.
Me - No. We're not doing that either. Maybe in university.

Hipsters don't do the Cinnamon Challenge

The cinnamon challenge is so... last term... it's so... 8th grade. Ew.
Let's just take the fun and games to a whole new level, grade 6/7 style:

It's quesadilla time! I didn't have much success finding a cheese-free alternative to quesadillas, and the kids were begging to make them, so we went with the status quo. I'd been grumbling to myself that quesadillas are so easy... TOO easy... No. No they're not. Not easy. Not for the kids.

The hardest part is listening to all those instructions the teacher gives. How to set up an electric grill. How to grate cheese without grating your fingers (very stressful, actually). How to make sure your ingredients go far enough. How to flip the darned thing once you figure out it might be ready to flip. Nope. There's nothing "easy" about quesadillas.

The students are allowed to bring in extra ingredients, as long as no one in the room is allergic to it. Additionally, they have to reach a consensus in their group about what to share, and what not to share.

A student brought a jalapeno as part of his extras. I knew that little green fruit was trouble when I spotted it in the fridge. During class I spoke to him about the preparation and clean up of hot peppers (yes, I know, it was only a jalapeno. If it were a habanero, I don't think I would have let him use it, honestly.) He's a reliable kid, and it looked good. (Wait for it...)

Class is ticking along reasonably well. Suddenly, a boy bolts from the room, bent double. Two others follow. I worry that he's vomiting, but by the time I get from one side of the room to the other, he's back - and his head is firmly under the water tap, and he's gulping.

My eyes drift to their table. On a cutting board sits a neatly sliced jalapeno pepper. And what do I notice? It's full of seeds. The boy is still gulping water from a tap that the kids are generally reluctant to drink from. Over the roar of the tap and the hum of the class I call to him - Water only makes it worse!

He emerges. Looks desperate. "What makes it better then?" The poor kid is almost begging for mercy. I have to think quickly. I don't eat hot stuff, fortunately though, my son does, so I have some ideas about what might help. The question is - do I have anything in the foods room that will do the trick? I only keep supplies that we're actually going to use for that lab. Milk! I have milk. I bought it thinking we were making muffins. It's in the fridge and it's fresh. I pour him some milk and he finds some relief. Now, he's ready to laugh about it. I warned him it was going in the blog. I don't think he was listening.