One day when I got on the bus to go to school I saw parents in the seats where my friends were supposed to be. I said to myself, "This is whacky!" When we arrived at school and went inside I saw my friends in the office. Jason was sitting in the principal's office at his desk.

I left the office and went to my classroom. I said to Miss Elliott, my teacher, "What is going on?" Miss Elliott told me that the kids had taken over the school for 3 days. When I looked at the desks in my classroom someone was sitting in my seat. It was my mom! Mom didn't see me because she was doing her morning work. She was writing in her journal. I went over to her and I said, "Why are you in school?"

Mom said, "The kids are taking over the school and all the parents are in school today. The kids are working in the office and in the cafeteria and they are teachers, too."

"Uh oh," I said. "I am supposed to be the teacher today. Miss Elliott, what should I do with the class?"

Miss Elliott told me to give the class some math problems. I held up our multiplication times tables and the parents in my class had to write the answers in their math notebook. I got out my red marker and checked their books. I walked back and forth in the rows of desks. My mom only missed one problem. She got one wrong out of ten so she got 90%. I put a star on her book.

The dismissal bell rang and it was time to go home. I gave the parents more times tables for homework. I gave them 10 problems and they were happy because that wasn't so bad.

The parents said, "Thank you, Jessica, for a good day at school. We like to be in your class."

Patti Weeg
pweeg@shore.intercom.net

March 21, 2000