~ Valentine's Day: Bah, Humbug! ~

I am a little less than fond of holidays which require a classroom party. Valentine's Day is one of those, and in order to make the beginning of the week run a little bit smoother, the fifth grade celebrated early, having our parties on Friday last week. The kids came in this morning ready to work, settling in to our writing assignment very nicely.

Until....

Morning announcements began as usual, with a fifth grade student reading birthdays and other details over the school's P.A. system, then leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. We finished the Pledge, but the announcements didn't stop.

First, the music teacher announced that a group of "special people" would be singing a little tune for Valentine's Day. Then there were three heavy, huffing breaths directly into the microphone. At this point, my class was at a low buzz wondering what was happening. Then came some nearly non-melodic singing, which dissolved into a sort of non-rhythmic rapping, none of which could be understood over the P.A. My formerly calm class was now giggling and growing louder by the moment.

Then, as if enough hadn't already been done, the announcement came to turn our TVs to channel 18.

I shouldn't have listened.

Played for the whole school, channel 18 was the music teacher in his room singing, clapping, and doing a little Valentine's Day song with motions. My class was speechless for about an eighth of a second, before they all started talking at the same time.

Five minutes later, we were calm and back to work again. Finally.

Call me a Scrooge, but seriously...bah, humbug Valentine's Day!