rain, rain, go away!

my class really is fantastic. i've been thinking more and more lately, just how lucky i am. and i really have nothing to complain about that's for sure!! people often come into my class and are so impressed with how well they are working and with what they have accomplished this year. other teachers come in and comment on how quietly they work or how independent they are and sometimes i wonder what the heck they see that i don't see. but if i take a moment and look at the big picture, it's true. they are amazing. and i guess it's because of my high expectations of them that i don't see it as often as i should, but my kids rock!

so that brings me to today's story. well actually it happened yesterday. we have swimming on friday at 1:35 so we are ready to go around 1:25. they had their swimsuits on, towels over their shoulders, goggles in hand by about 1:22. at approximately 1:23 it started to POUR! like we are talking full-fledged, rainy season is BACK, pouring cats and dogs, RAIN. this is of course followed by thunder and lightning. so i had to make the "bad guy decision". sorry boys and girls, no swimming today!

but it's been such a long time since it rained here and they were all so interested in the rain so i took them outside under the shelter of the covered sidewalk and we watched the rain. at first it was raining really hard and they were squealing with delight. then there was a huge crack of thunder and few of the timid ones took a step closer to the building. some were building up their courage to step up and stick their hands out into the refreshing rain. and i had an urge. i really, really wanted to take them out to play in the rain. imagine how fun it would have been to take 16 five year olds out into the POURING rain in their bathing suits!! however, my logical side kicked in to remind me that the parents here would NOT love that. they are big on the "change in weather causes colds". i am more on the "germs cause colds" belief but who am i to say?! anyway, i was sad that we couldn't play but there wasn't much i could do.

i was just about to take them inside when they had a moment. a "man i love these kids" moment. they all started singing together, "rain, rain, go away, come again another day!". over and over. and they were so happy and hopeful that their chanting would make the sun come out so that they could go swimming. it just reminded me how cool they are and even though it didn't work, and it kept raining, they gave it a shot!

as we went back inside and i had them change back into their uniforms, one boy asked me, "ms. emily, is it raining because the sky is crying?" "yes, it is!" i replied. how could i say no to that?