The girls had a four-day week with Friday off for Record Keeping Day because it is the end of the third quarter.  On Record Keeping day the students stay home so the teachers are able to work out the students’ grades for their report cards without any disruption from the students.  Having worked in schools as a para-professional, and as a substitute teacher, I’m pretty aware of how much time a teacher needs at the end of the quarter to tabulate grades, which is very little.  But, through those same experiences I’m also aware of how much a break is needed at the end of a quarter, which is very much. 

On Monday morning, I gave the girls the choice to wear snowpants or not since they each have a pair left at school to wear outside for recess.  Neither girl wanted to wear their snowpants.  Given the choice, Dee Dee sometimes wears her snowpants, but Audio always chooses not to.  So, I was surprised at the end of the day when Audio came out of school wearing the snowpants from her locker.  I couldn’t get her to tell me why she was wearing them, but they were pretty dirty.  So, I assumed that someone thought that the snowpants should be sent home for a washing.  Given that Dee Dee’s coat and gloves come home covered in mud every day, everything was tossed in the washer and ready to wear in the morning.   

Tuesday morning was colder than Monday morning, by quite a bit.  So, I instructed both girls to wear their snowpants; Audio’s pair from school, and Dee Dee’s pair from home.  Both girls protested.  But I explained that if nothing else, the padded snowpants would cushion any falls on the ice that occurred on the way to school.  Dee Dee made sure to inform me that she wasn’t cold, as we walked to school.  I made sure to inform her that she wasn’t cold because she was wearing her snowpants.  Audio slipped and fell to one knee in the alley at the start of our walk.  She didn’t complain about wearing her snowpants.  When we got to school, I advised Audio’s teacher that the snowpants she had on should stay in her locker and that she would be fine walking home without them.  The teacher said that she wasn’t sure who would be helping Audio get ready to leave at the end of the day (a staff person, an older student, or a volunteer), but she would put a note with the snowpants in Audio’s locker. 

When Audio and Dee Dee came out of school, neither were wearing snowpants.  When we got home, Dee Dee pulled her snowpants out of her backpack and threw them into the entryway, next to the coat rack.  I picked up Audio’s backpack from where she’d dropped it in the middle of the kitchen floor and realized that there was something inside of it.  I opened the backpack and there were her snowpants, with a note sticking out of the pocket that read, “Audio doesn’t need to wear these home.”  The weather report for the next day predicted another cold morning, but a warmup during the day.  So, I flipped the note over and wrote, “These can stay in Audio’s locker,” and then tucked it back into the pocket.  In the morning, I had both girls wear their snowpants and I told Audio that if she thought of it, she should make sure that someone sees the note before the end of the day. 

At the end of the day Wednesday, before the girls came out of school, I saw Audio’s teacher walking back into the school after helping a child with an injured leg get to their bus.  She said that she saw my message on the note, realized that her note hadn’t been specific enough, and made sure that the fourth grader who was helping Audio get dressed at the end of the day knew that Audio wasn’t to wear her snowpants and she wasn’t supposed to bring them home in her backpack, either.  I let her know that it wasn’t a big deal and we laughed about it a bit until the bell rang, and all the students came rolling out of the school.   

When Dee Dee and Audio showed up, without snowpants, we quickly got into a discussion about how Dee Dee didn’t get to have what she wanted for lunch.  The entrée was beef stroganoff with a vegetarian option of meatless Swedish meatballs.  Dee Dee wanted to try the meatless Swedish meatballs, which were served with the same noodles and sauce as the beef stroganoff.  But she and the lunch lady didn’t communicate very well.  When the lunch lady confirmed that Dee Dee wanted the “meatballs,” Dee Dee said that she didn’t want any meat and ended up with a plate of just noodles and gravy.  She didn’t realize that until she was seated at a table and students aren’t allowed to go back to the lunch line unless they drop their lunch.  In the end, she said that she was happy with the noodles and sauce, but she would have liked to try the meatless meatballs.  She talked about them the whole way home. 

When we got home, I picked up Audio’s backpack from the kitchen floor and realized that it was heavier than it should have been.  I looked inside and saw a bright, lime green pair of snowpants that I’d never seen before.  I asked Audio if she recognized the snowpants and she said, “Those are Joe’s.  He is the only one with slime green snowpants.”  I asked if Audio knew who put the snowpants in her bag and why, but she had moved on from our conversation and was fighting with Dee Dee about who would hold the T.V. remote.  I rolled up the lime green snowpants and put them back in her bag and figured that someone at the other end would take care of them. 

Thursday morning was a bit warmer.  So, the girls didn’t need to wear snowpants.  And they weren’t wearing any at the end of the day, when they came out of school, either.  I felt Audio’s backpack and could tell it was packed full.  I asked her if I could look inside it.  “No.”  I asked if she wanted me to carry it for her.  “No.”  I asked if she wanted to tell me what was inside.  “No.”  At that point, Dee Dee let me know that a teacher (not hers) told her to bring home any clothing from her locker to be washed over Spring Break.  So, Dee Dee figured that Audio was told to do the same.  I assumed that Dee Dee was right because with Record Keeping Day, Spring Break, and two weekends, it would be ten days before the girls would be back to school.  Anything dirty left in a locker for ten days would likely come to life, break out of the locker and search for more of its kind and take over the school. 

When we got home, I had Dee Dee take off her coat, hat, and gloves and I threw them into the washing machine.  Then, I had her empty out any clothes from her backpack.  She pulled out her stay-at-school snowpants, an old pair of gloves that she told us she had lost, and a sweatshirt that she must have worn to school at some point during the quarter.  I collected Audio’s coat, hat, and mittens from her and put them into the washer.  Then, I grabbed Audio’s backpack from the kitchen floor and dumped it out in front of the washing machine.  There were two green boots, a green winter hat, and a green coat that all had the name Joel written on the tags.  I gathered it all up and threw all of it into the machine and washed it.