Sophisticated Second Grade Science.

Today I spent the morning at an elementary school observing two different classes (the best way to spend a morning, in my opinion.)

I started in a second grade class, just as they were learning about sedimentary rocks in all their splendor. The teacher asked me to help a group of students with the rock packet they were working on, and so, kneeling low, I turned my teacher talk voice on and jumped into the action.

They were passing a rock around amongst themselves, talking animatedly about its colorful layers and grainy texture. The page they were on asked them to observe and describe the properties of the rock: its look, its feel, its smell...

The rock was passed energetically among the students as they talked and collaborated, light bulbs going off left and right. "What great kids," I thought.

They approached the smell question. "What does this rock smell like?" the paper asked. The students sat and contemplated. One boy reached for the rock, held it up to his nose, and breathed deeply.

He sat there in serious thought, reaching for the words to describe the sensation. All eyes were on him, waiting and wondering, until he opened his cute little second grade mouth and earnestly stated: "It smells like poop."

At the shocking word, red, flashing alarms went off wildly in the newly developing teacher part of my brain. "Take control of the situation Miss Amy! This is not going to go well!" I thought.

But instead, I waited and watched. Each child took a turn sniffing the rock and then passing it to their neighbor, calmly, collectively, maturely. In agreement, they all stated matter-of-factly: "Yep, this rock smells like poop."

I watched in a little bit of a stupor as each child neatly (or not so neatly) scrawled the word: "poop" on the line under the question, like little scientists recording their data, as proud as could be.

I picked up the rock and gave it a sniff. While the description may not be completely precise....

it did actually kind of smell like poop. So I give the kids total credit.

KIDS ARE WONDERFULLY HILARIOUS.