best sixth graders ever

I'm in love.

With my sixth graders.

Oh, not that way. Get your mind out of the gutter.

They're a great, great group of kids. There's 17 of them, and about 90% have been at TIOH since "Mommy and Me." The least amount of time any of them has been in the TIOH community is since 3rd grade. They're adorable, and sweet, and energetic (that's a bit of an understatement; on Mondays they have a prep course for the ISEE, a standardized test they have to take to get into independent middle/high schools next year, and we give them pizza between when school ends at 3 and when they start they're prep course at 3:30. Jo and I waited with them, and after they ate their two slices of pizza and three cups of Sprite, they were getting r-o-w-d-y.) and really friendly. To me. Since it's such a close-knit group, it's a bit of a challenge to come in and try to be their teacher. I have no repartee, no history with any of them, and yet, they're taking me in. It's fantastic. I'm walking a fine line between teacher and "friend." I know my place, but since I'm so young (although, they are less than half my age) and close to them generationally (we talked shop about movies we like - a lot of them have seen "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Blades of Glory" which are definitely NOT 11 year old appropriate) it's easy to forget that I'm a teacher. I have to develop a close relationship with them, but maintain the boundaries. It's tougher than I thought. I want to like them and I want them to like me.

One of my students had her birthday over the weekend, and she brought cupcakes in for the class today, and she brought one for me and one for Jo. I was touched. So I ate mine when the kids ate theirs, during recess, and then at the end of the day, Jo handed me hers and said, "Do you want this?" Now, this was a delicious, chocolate on chocolate cupcake, and I really enjoyed mine. But one was enough for a few days. So, I said, "Sure," and gobbled it down right then and there. How can I say no to chocolate?