Nature

I love being out in nature. I love hiking, backpacking, camping, and eating smores. However, there are just some things that make me a little wary about nature. It's the bugs, the nasty creatures, the big creatures, and even the cute little creatures (you never can tell when they are going to turn on you.) Today we had the opportunity to take about 120 sixth graders out to enjoy nature. They fished, played games, wrote using their different senses, and each group got to come with me on a fabulous nature walk. We discovered Gum Weed, Russian Olive trees, Alfalfa, Willow trees, Cattails and the list goes on and on. Things were going well, until I rounded the bend with my fourth and last group. My eagle sharp eyes noticed a few too many boys down by the creek crawling to get in the water. Needless to say I ran down to where the kids were. Luckily, there were some parents down there. Phew! Even more lucky, they were super responsible and were encouraging the children to get a snake out of the water. I of course yelled at the kids to get out of the water and get on the buses. One of the dads turned to me and asked why the kids couldn't bring the snake on the bus. As I was beginning my astonished reply, I turned to see a herd of 60 children, who a moment ago had been standing so quietly by the buses, now running quickly toward us. The dad turned to me and said, "Well they must have heard about the snake." I turned to the herd of children and began to wave my hands in the air yelling for them to turn around and go to the bus. Then I noticed that the kids weren't running toward the water, but they wre running toward me, and it wasn't that we're running to say hello to you look. Instead they were running at me with a fierce, warlike look in their eyes. They were definitely on a mission. I don't know where my eagle eyes were then, because it took me another moment (a very brief moment) to figure out that my life was in danger.I saw their water bottles, their water canteens, and their water chests. There was nowhere to go, but I still tried to run and then when the mob of little people had me surrounded I tried to protect myself. However, it was all over in about a minute. Needless to say I was absolutely and completely soaked. Which may have felt good, if I could have stayed out in the hot sun, however, the bus was leaving. Therefore, I got on the bus and with every step water poured out of my tennis shoes. Kids leaned toward the window as I walked by to keep from getting rained on. After the bus ride, I left my puddles on the bus and then swished down the sidewalk to my classroom where the air conditioning was on full blast. I don't know if I've ever been that cold before. I must say shaking for two hours while teaching is definitely a new experience. Needless to say, after today I have decided that while I still love being in nature, I need to add one more thing to my list of things to be wary about in nature and that is children.