During the winter's English camp, we watched Wall-E and made robots using materials from home. It was a basic lesson about recycling, but the kids really enjoyed it. The class was split into teams and each team designed and constructed an original robot. One team, using a cereal box, toilet paper tubes, corrugated cardboard, tin foil, and binoculars, were able to replicate Wall-E almost perfectly. Pretty impressive for 4th grade students.
The story could end here, but of course, it doesn't. This robot was unanimously voted to be the best of the class, but I didn't think it would ever leave the assembly line. These four guys spent the first 20 or 30 minutes arguing and huffing glue. Not just any glue. One of them came in with some kind of industrial strength adhesive...an entire tube of it. I first noticed when I heard some shouting and looked up to see two of them arguing over how to attach the tin foil. Pretty reasonable argument for a group of 9-year olds to be having. The strange thing was, as they argued their case, they were literally PASSING the tube of glue back and forth and sniffing it...really sniffing it, (I realize that this is pretty typical of young kids with glue, permanent markers, etc., so it wasn't necessarily the fact that they were sniffing the glue, it was more the humor of watching two kids plead their case, sniff, and pass a tube of glue to one another like some kind of piece pipe). Immediately, I intervened and suggested that they wrap the different parts with the foil and then simply tape it in place. More importantly, I used my best sign language to tell them that what they were doing with the glue was really bad for them, (point to glue--point to nose--sniffing sound--pretend to vomit--make "X" with arms). They appeared to understand and went back to work.
I'm circling the room, assisting the other groups when I hear it again. Sniffing sounds. In close succession. I turn around and sure enough, the huffing has commenced once again, only this time, while one student is feverishly marking and slicing the cardboard, his friend is holding the glue under his nose as he takes a quick sniff. The glue is then passed among the circle with each student having their go at it. I think I should back up for a second. I deliberately said "slicing" the cardboard, not "cutting" the cardboard and there's a sound reason for this. Box cutters are common classroom tools among Korean students. On the inside of every Iron Man, Angry Bird, or Elsa pencil case rests something that looks like this:
The first time that I witnessed a student pulling one of these out and unsheathing the blade, I almost tackled him. Lucky for him, I paused mid-charge as I watched him use the razor to sharpen his pencil. I then noticed that I hadn't seen a single rotary pencil sharpener anywhere in the school. He calmly, and (somewhat) safely shaved the dull tip of his pencil into a point, slid the blade back down, and secured the weapon in his pencil case. Since then, I've seen these tools used in a variety of different ways, primarily as pencil sharpeners and as a substitute for scissors, but kids are creative so they find all sorts of ways to have fun with these things.
When not being used practically, these box cutters make great tools for slicing small chunks out of rubber erasers. Said chunks are then used as projectiles against other students, usually while the teacher's back is turned, (or so they think). One time, a box cutter was used to slice long, slender strips of rubber from the side of a desk. These strips were then employed to poke other students in the back of the head from a distance of about 12 inches away. Another time, I watched as a student sharpened his pencil only to covertly dump the shavings into another student's hair. As a former mischief maker myself, I inwardly had to applaud the ingenuity, but as the resident adult I also had to send the aspiring young villain to the back of the room and make him write sentences.
Although the razors are used to forge "weapons" I have never, ever seen a student use one of the box cutters as a weapon or as a device with which to threaten, intimidate, or instill fear. The only time that I ever cringe when one of these is taken out is when a student is "changing" a dull blade. Rather than replacing the entire blade, the dull tip of the blade is muscled back and forth until it snaps off.
Back to the glue.
So I've now witnessed these kids form a glue huffing circle for the second time. I'm a fan of baseball, so my policy is usually "three strikes and you're out". This works pretty well when it comes to quieting kids down but when it comes to sniffing glue, two strikes is plenty. Without saying a word I walk over and confiscate the glue mid-rotation, replacing it with a glue stick that they couldn't really huff and thankfully, did not attempt to eat.
I'm circling the room, assisting the other groups when I hear it again. Sniffing sounds. In close succession. I turn around and sure enough, the huffing has commenced once again, only this time, while one student is feverishly marking and slicing the cardboard, his friend is holding the glue under his nose as he takes a quick sniff. The glue is then passed among the circle with each student having their go at it. I think I should back up for a second. I deliberately said "slicing" the cardboard, not "cutting" the cardboard and there's a sound reason for this. Box cutters are common classroom tools among Korean students. On the inside of every Iron Man, Angry Bird, or Elsa pencil case rests something that looks like this:
The first time that I witnessed a student pulling one of these out and unsheathing the blade, I almost tackled him. Lucky for him, I paused mid-charge as I watched him use the razor to sharpen his pencil. I then noticed that I hadn't seen a single rotary pencil sharpener anywhere in the school. He calmly, and (somewhat) safely shaved the dull tip of his pencil into a point, slid the blade back down, and secured the weapon in his pencil case. Since then, I've seen these tools used in a variety of different ways, primarily as pencil sharpeners and as a substitute for scissors, but kids are creative so they find all sorts of ways to have fun with these things.
When not being used practically, these box cutters make great tools for slicing small chunks out of rubber erasers. Said chunks are then used as projectiles against other students, usually while the teacher's back is turned, (or so they think). One time, a box cutter was used to slice long, slender strips of rubber from the side of a desk. These strips were then employed to poke other students in the back of the head from a distance of about 12 inches away. Another time, I watched as a student sharpened his pencil only to covertly dump the shavings into another student's hair. As a former mischief maker myself, I inwardly had to applaud the ingenuity, but as the resident adult I also had to send the aspiring young villain to the back of the room and make him write sentences.
Although the razors are used to forge "weapons" I have never, ever seen a student use one of the box cutters as a weapon or as a device with which to threaten, intimidate, or instill fear. The only time that I ever cringe when one of these is taken out is when a student is "changing" a dull blade. Rather than replacing the entire blade, the dull tip of the blade is muscled back and forth until it snaps off.
Back to the glue.
So I've now witnessed these kids form a glue huffing circle for the second time. I'm a fan of baseball, so my policy is usually "three strikes and you're out". This works pretty well when it comes to quieting kids down but when it comes to sniffing glue, two strikes is plenty. Without saying a word I walk over and confiscate the glue mid-rotation, replacing it with a glue stick that they couldn't really huff and thankfully, did not attempt to eat.
