Hungry and Ready to Eat!

from The Diary of a First Grade Teacher

And kept pushing against my desk, bumping it with his tubby, little body.

I said, "Please stop, Ben. I'm writing."

"I can't help it," he said, suddenly amazed with himself. "It's my belly. LOOK! It makes me bounce right back!"

A little later ...

Ben returned to me, whining. "What time's lunch?" he pleaded. "I'm hungry. And now I'm running on empty!"

Just a Minute

I said, “In just a minute.”

He scowled, clenched his teeth, and blasted, “That's what my momma always says! I just HATE minutes … They take so long!"

School Cafeteria

Joe Joe had finished eating before I sat down. Suddenly, he burped loudly and proudly!

Then he saw the displeased look on my face.

Dropping his chin to his chest, he tried his best to make up for what he had done.

“S-cuse me,” he said, trying his best to be polite. “Please pass the toilet paper.”

A few minutes later...

Joe Joe called me over and said, “I’m eating everything except that!”

He poked his fork around in the applesauce. “I KNOW what that stuff is. And ain’t NOBODY can trick me.”

I mused. “What do you think that is, Joe Joe?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Ha! That’s what my brother eats – BABY FOOD!”

What now?

Joe Joe was reaching into Weesie’s food tray, grabbing green peas and throwing them into the air!

“Stop it,” I said. “Do NOT touch her food again. Do NOT throw another thing. And, after you've picked up every pea off of this floor, come with me ... You can stay in for Recess and think about what you’ve done.”

Then, he had the nerve to look surprised. “I lost my Recess?”

“Uh! Yes, you did.”

He shrugged, picked up the peas, and returned to me.

Wanting him to see the significance of what he had done, I spoke to him quietly and firmly. “Imagine what it would be like if everybody in here were throwing peas!”

He nodded.

I prompted. “Wouldn’t that be AWFUL?”

His eyes grew large. “Yes’m,” he said, grimacing. “Then they’d ALL lose their Recess!”

A Clean Plate

We were leaving the cafeteria today whenever Joe Joe ran up to me holding his lunch tray.

His little mouth and hands were covered in wet clumps of brown and orange. Was that food?

"I have a 'portant question," he said. “What do I do with my fork?” He nodded to where it lay on his tray.

“See? It’s clean!” He shouted triumphantly. “I didn’t touch it!”

Joe Joe motioned for me to come see him. He was frantically erasing a page. “Look, my eraser’s HUNGRY! He’s picking up all this scribble work!”

He was appropriately impressed until he thought about it. “Say, but where’s he putting it?”



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