The Lunch Room

     Well, hello there! I am sure that just reading the title conjures up all sorts of images in your head. If you have ever had the pleasure of being in the lunch room as one of your "duties," you will know exactly what I am talking about. Don't worry, this story is pretty mild and doesn't include anything crazy like food fights or chaos. 

    For the last two years, our small school has changed the way we do lunch as mandated and then out of an abundance of caution throughout the pandemic. (Don't worry, I am hopeful that this topic slowly disappears from my blogs.) Anyway, we have been keeping the kids in our own classrooms for lunch. You know, to keep the cohort of kids together and not intermingled. This has been the case until just recently when we were able to get out from behind the masks. Once masks were an option for all in the school, we took the big leap of faith and moved the kids back into the multi-purpose room for lunch. 

       This whole idea of having most of the grades together in one room, unmasked and sharing tables was met with a little hesitation and slight anxiety. But, we jumped in and so far so good. Believe it or not, some of the younger grade groups had never even had lunch in the lunchroom before because the Pre-K  doesn't have lunch with us. Also, we have some new students to the school who just haven't been in the school for enough years to have had the experience. Not only that, but between the masks and non-mingling, some kids haven't even really gotten to know each other at all. That is hard to pull of when there are less than 50 kids in the whole school. But- it happened. 

    So, here we are almost at the end of the year, teaching the kids the rules of the lunchroom and how to behave, get lunch, clean-up and socialize in a larger group setting. For me, I am so happy to get to interact with the other kiddos in the school. I needed a change of faces and personalities and I am sure the kids feel the same way. So yesterday, I was watching some of the younger classes giggling and laughing. It made my heart so happy to hear that sound. I know they may not have been behaving quite appropriately, but for me, it was worth it! In addition, the excitement between the kids- being able to talk and joke with the other students is just plain nice to see. 

    I never thought I'd be saying that I look forward to lunch duty, but alas, I look forward to lunch duty. I have so missed the kids. I get my energy from them and even though the novelty may wear off...I am ok with that. I also want all the kids to know who I am and that they can count on me as a trusted adult.That just wasn't happening when they were on the other end of the hall. 

    So, my goal for the rest of the year is to be grateful for the lunch room- kids talking with their mouths full and everything!