Coffee-to-Student Inquiry Ratio

Now that the 100th Day of Kindergarten milestone has been reached, our 100 chart has been changed into a Countdown Until Summer (or First Grade) chart. With some seventy-ish days to go, one of my Stars inadvertently opened up the floor to a clarification meeting this morning, making me realize that I should have splurged on a drink from Starbucks before getting to school.

Star 1: "Mrs. Sommerville, are we counting down to summer, first grade, or both?"

Me: Well, that depends. It definitely counts down to summer, but it also counts down to the LAST day of kindergarten. What will you be when you aren't kindergarteners anymore?

Star 2: "Graduates?"

Star 3: "No, we won't be ~gra-jee-ate-ed~, we'll be ready for first grade."

Star 1: "So we're counting down to lots of things, and they all happen on the same day?"

Me: Well, let's try to...

Star 4: "No, no, nonono, I've got it. We're going to take a day off (Star 1: "You mean SUBTRACT, we're going to SUBTRACT...")... okay, yes, yeah yeah yeah, we're going to SUBTRACT a day off of the chart, and when we get to the last ten days, we're supposed to get ready to move to another classroom. Is that right?"

Star 5: "Uh, do the first grade teachers know this?"

Star 4: "Am I right?"

Star 6: "One thing at a time. Okay. ~inhale~ We're going to subtract. I can do that. And we're going to get ready for vacation. I like vacations! I went to Disney last year!"

Star 4: "AM... I... RIGHT??????"

Star 7: "Maybe we should have just gone to first grade yesterday, you know. The first 100 days are for kindergarten, and then on the one hundred and... the one hundred and (Star 1: "The one hundred and FIRST...")... yeah! On the one hundred and, uh... (Star 1: "FIRST!")... YEAH! On THAT day, we go to first grade!

Star 1: "How come you can say first grade but not one hundred and first?"

Star 7: "What?"

Star 4: "I don't think I'm right."

... and that's when I knew I had miscalculated the amount of coffee that today was going to require.