Last week I planned a project that I thought would be fun and get us through the last week of February. We were going to make models of the sun out of paper mache.

I prepped the kids.

I had a plan.

I had a you tube video.

I had thought and thought of all the things that could go wrong.

But just like every good plan…there’s a glitch.

We covered the tables. I went to each table and put a cup of flour in a good sized bowl. I let the kids put their hands in the flour. This was amazing to me. They liked the sensation of their fingers in the flour. They played and played in that flour. I went to each table and poured 2 cups of very warm water. The mixing of the paste began. Oh my! Let the descriptive words fly!

Within about 30 seconds, my eye was drawn to a little boy who was flapping his arms and flying around our classroom. He was flinging paste everywhere! He had covered his arms in paste and he was squealing like a stuck pig as he flew around our room.

Needless to say, I lost my teacher ish on him. Not my finest moment as an educator or a person. He was done for the day.

Later, I apologized to him and then to the whole class. He was generous in accepting my apology. I still just felt horrible.

The next day I again apologized to the class for my behavior. I shared that I should have anticipated that it would be sensory overload for him. A friend looked me in the eyes with a reassuring smile and gently said, ‘It’s OK, Mrs. Hays. It happens to all of us. We forgive you. We all make mistakes. It’s how we learn.’

Those were the words I needed to hear. Thanks, Sweet Friend, for being a very wise 7-year-old. #rockstar