BY DAN VERBEEK, GRADE 7 TEACHER

Being a teacher has its perks from time to time.

We receive many gifts and goodies from students and families at Christmas and the end of the year. We are showered with cookies, baking, candy and gift cards. It is really wonderful…but only temporary and only confined to those two specific times in the school year….

Last year, we solved the problem and this week, it got a little out of hand.

Happy kids, full bellies

Last year, Mr. Verwoerd was an Educational Assistant in my class. A student came into the class one morning and gave us both cookies. We loved this treat. So much so, that I gave the student a hat I have on my shelf and dubbed them “the favourite student” for the day. That student received no special treatment for the day…they just got to wear a hat.

This idea took off. Others wanted to wear the hat.

From there, students would bring Mr Verwoerd and I cookies and they’d get the hat for the day. It was a wonderful little exercise that kept kids happy and our bellies full…until it became competitive.

Students started stock piling cookies in their lockers, strategically waiting for when they would give us treats.

When student ‘A’ brought cookies to us, the hat would be given out, only to be removed when student ‘B’ would later sneak up with more cookies! This lead to much laughter and larger waist sizes for Mr. Verwoerd and myself. This trend continued through the year and we enjoyed the community that it brought to the classroom.

Bigger and better?

This year, the hat was ready to be given out. I told the kids how it worked and the cookies slowly trickled in.

One student brought us six cinnamon buns and the class asked us: what does that get them? Do they get the hat longer because it was greater than two cookies? We decided that it was a full day immunity to other treats stealing the hat’s thunder.

Then the question was asked, “What would happen if someone brought you a pizza sized cookie?”

I thought about it for a moment…“One month of favouritism!”

The kids were ecstatic as they started imagining what that would be like. They cheered and joked about bringing us such a cookie. I never thought it would happen. Really, who has time to make such a thing?

Well…it happened.

Today, I was served a 10′ cookie in a pizza box….

One full month immunity has been given out.

I have now said goodbye to my waist.