Sweaty, noisy, and full of laughter

No, I'm not finally getting around to writing about my journey into the world of derby (roller, not Kentucky). I'll get to that soon. I promise. (There will also be .gifs).

This is about the end of THE TEST and my class, that has my heart, but also has me asking (out loud)  on a daily basis how I'm not in the looney bin.

Most of those that interact with me on a daily basis know that after watching children take tests for four hours a day for two days, I'm a little bit bat-crap crazy. (More so than usual.)

Today at the end of the day, we didn't really celebrate the end of the test. You see, we had a job to do. For the month of April, I take all of the tables and communal seating out of my classroom, and we move in desks for THE TEST. The kids like the desks, but only because it gives them somewhere to put their binders. I hate the desks with a passion, because they are magnets for the crap that kids cram into them, and they definitely set up a "mine, me, all mine" attitude that isn't really as prevalent when we have desks.

So, every year (this and last, because I've only been doing this for two years), after the last test, we put the room back together. We move the desks up against the lockers, bring in all the tables we want/need, and then get the desks the helloutta my classroom.

This year, I also decided to do some redecorating in the process, switching tables, moving tables, and just generally changing things around.

Bad idea.
Hilarious idea, but bad idea.

When it was time to bring in the tables, and move some things around in the classroom, I had the girls stay in the classroom to rearrange things and move a carpet, and had the boys stay outside for the heavy lifting. Lest you think I'm being sexist, I did it this way because I could leave the girls unattended in the room while the boys were wound up and needed direct supervision.

While I gave the girls their directions (turn my desk around, move the carpet to the front of the room, move that desk out of the way), the boys were lining themselves up in the hallway. I turn around to find them all standing at attention saluting me. (It was then that I wondered aloud why I'm not in the nut house).

All in all, it was handled. I wouldn't say it was handled all that well, but it was handled. We got five tables moved in to the classroom, and 22 desks moved out. We got my two tables moved into different positions and the carpet moved to a different part of the room.

It was sweaty.
It was noisy.
It was full of laughter.

Most importantly, it was the end of THE TEST!

Now we get to do fun things.
Tomorrow, I'm giving them one million imaginary dollars.