11. Peanuts and Parties

11. Peanuts and Parties

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* The school environment is inviting, safe, inclusive, and supportive of all.

Today one of my students had a birthday. They brought cupcakes to our homeroom. How sweet is that? I told them they had to wait until the end of the day to have the cupcakes. During our Spartan Time I said we could go outside on the picnic tables and the birthday person could share the cupcakes for about 15 minutes. It was a sweet day. One of the other students made a card and everyone signed it. It made the student very happy. At the end of the day, I asked if they had had a fun day; they said, 'Yes.'

It was a good idea to wait until the end of the day. Before going out, one of the students was in the grocery bag of cupcakes. I was calling across the room, "Get out of the bag." The child said, "I have peanut allergies; I need to know if there is peanut oil in these."

Oh dear. I didn't even think about it. It didn't dawn on me that there might be peanut oil in cupcakes. Once he said that I said, "Okay. Let me know." (By the way, the cupcakes were sealed.)

The student said, "We're good!" 

Whew.

I told them we could go outside for 15 minutes. Once they got outside and had cupcakes, it was as if the sugar gave them free-reign to be wild banchees. After about 5 minutes I said, "Okay, time to go back in." They were too wild; but my room was free from cupcake crumbs and at the end of three days of testing, a few minutes of social time was good. They came back inside, cleaned up the room, got their progress reports, and gathered their books and instruments to go home. I can't believe it is already midterm of the first nine weeks!

Advice

1) It is not recommended to give students candy. If you are going to give them candy, consider doing it at the end of the day. I don't give candy. I would give apples or carrots (I know that is kind of weird, but they like it; they like anything!)

2) Find ways to celebrate. I watched as the students made the card for this student. What a wonderful tribute to evidence that middle school students care about one another. 

3) Be aware of the allergies of your students before bringing out any food.