The Greatest Science Experiment EVER

Today was the last day of school for us.  (Hello Christmas Winter Break, no alarm ringing, lounging in pajamas, and wasting time.)

And being the outstanding teacher I am, we were engaged in rigorous classroom experiences from the moment they walked in the door to the second they walked out.  (And that's not a joke, thanks to Mary's Polar Express unit. It's so awesome I'm plugging it on my own volition.)

However, Polar Express had to wait until we had finished our Reading Mastery lessons for the day, which is where I was privy to the most awesome hypothesis yet to be tested.

We have a thing in my room-we all like the spotlight on us.  And we will do whatever we can to make sure it's on us. 

Case in point:

Reading Mastery has just begun-half of my class leaves for different RM groups, but having a smaller audience means you can be more clearly heard, so we gear up for some pretty sweet soliloquys despite the less than full house.

I'm going over the checklist before we begin our lesson when I hear Precious say to no one in particular, "When white people get in the sun..."*

*This automatically gets my attention, as Precious can pop off some convoluted logic faster'n'a hot knife through butter so I can't wait to see where this anecdote goes.

"When white people get in the sun, they turn into black people." 

Y'all gotta understand that of the persons in the classroom, I'm the only white one.  I don't claim to speak for all Caucasians, but I know for a fact if I have sun exposure I don't turn black.  Red? Possibly. Tan? After the peeling subsides-maybe.  Pink? Yep.  Black-never happened.

Because I want to dispel this myth, I said, "Really?  Is that so?"

Precious pauses for a moment then replies, "Yes.  White people turn into black people.  My neighbor told me he used to be black, but he got the black smacked out of him."

I kept my composure until our principal did a walk through.  Taking the child and the principal aside, we repeated this newfound knowledge.  And in the midst of the ensuing discussion, we will be conducting a science experiment on that very hypothesis when we can finally go outside for recess.

And like all rigorous teachers, the data on this experiment will be unbelievable.