It's a balloonsplosion!

The thing with teaching is that it's a new job every day.  Some days I think "wow, I am a way better teacher than I was seven years ago!"  And some days I realize that I have a whole lot more to learn.

For instance, last week I was preparing a World War I web quest for my sophomores.  I put together this activity a few years ago, but I went through and tested out the links to make sure they still worked, because being trapped in a computer lab with sophomores and no lesson plan.  After I did this I felt all smug.  "I never would have thought to do this my first year!"  So we go to the computer lab, and hey!  The new filter doesn't allow access to the website, www.worldwar1.com

 See, we got a new web filter last week, and we finally got different privledges for staff and students.  That's awesome, but since I checked the page from MY access, I didn't know that the kids couldn't access it.  And since it's, you know, one of the largest websites for WWI history on the web, I didn't exactly think about it being blocked.  This is the universe getting me back for being so smug.

***

Fast forward to this evening.  I made a quick trip to the dollar store to pick up some stuff for my AVID kids.  We're having an elementary school style Valentine's Day party on Friday so I was looking for some odds n' ends.  While I was there, I found "Wack-a-Pack Surprise Greetings."  Supposedly you just "smack the pack," "watch and wait," and then "see the surprise!," the surprise being a balloon.  Here's the descriptor from the back of the package:

What girl doesn't want a balloonsplosion instead of a heart-felt card?

Thinking that this would be something along the lines of those grow-a-reptile things, this seemed like good clean fun.  But on my way home, I got to thinking that maybe I should try said Wack-a-Packs" out before distributing them to teenagers with questionable judgment.  My main concern was the possibility of getting an eye blown out by these.

Ryan and I pulled out one of the innocent silver packages and carefully read the directions on back:

.

We wacked, as instructed, and then waited.  And waited.  The thing slowly, sloooooowly, got bigger.  Why are there no pictures of this?  Because any second I thought that the thing would pop off.  All the sudden--POP!!  This thing flew from the counter, shot up and hit the ceiling and ricocheted onto the floor.  There was much shrieking, and possibly swearing.

Even though this scared the crap out of me in my own kitchen, this is much better than the alternative that instantly popped into my head:  I hand out untested favors to 14 high school kids, who get all excited and set them off at the same time, resulting in 14 nearly simultaneous pops and 14 shrieks and screams when balloons go flying everywhere.  Alerted by the suspicious noise, the school is sent into a lockdown, but because I still don't have an intercom, my 14 innocent kids bound of the classroom hopped up on sugar and into the waiting arms of a SWAT team.

Yup.  I consider whether or not my actions will result in a SWAT team.  Doubt whether this is a logical concern?  Come to work with me and my crazy kids for a few days and we'll see how you feel.