THE WINDY CLASSROOM

Go ahead, I dare you. Try to wipe the grin off your face while eagerly grasping a vibrant silk parachute handle.  Especially while flanked by classmates equally thrilled to be sharing in such a wildly appealing pastime.  Think back and admit it, friends.  When you walked into the gymnasium and realized your PE teacher had dragged out that lovely colorful apparatus, all of your accumulated dread of sit-ups left your brain and was immediately replaced with unbridled enthusiasm.

 It was the same when the PALS club got together last week for a favorite springtime activity.  Early Childhood students and Middle School students approached their shared activity with equivalent fervor.  The older students, referred to by their teachers as “Big Pals” are more than twice the age of their small accomplices (the “Little Pals”). The Big Pals took the lead and their five-year-old counterparts shadowed accordingly.  

It was positively adorable.

The first difficulty came for the Big Pals before they even reached the room for play.  They were attempting to quietly travel to the other side of the building to meet their Little Pals and let’s just say the struggle was REAL.  “PALS” is an activity for some of the Middle School students during the final period of the school-day each Monday.  It is a wildly popular option which allows the older students to make friends with some of the youngest Penn View students.  The opportunity is always scooped up quickly by 8th grade girls during signups.  Eighteen girls strong and not a single 8^th grade boy!  This gaggle of eager adolescents has so much trouble not speaking in the hushed elementary hallways, their teacher Lisa Reichley tells them to put a fictional marshmallow into their mouths.  She does the same. This leaves them all with chipmunk cheeks; the wide-eyed group sounding convincingly similar to the dull but persistent hum of a large clumsy bumblebee. The bumblebee hum is certainly preferable to the shrieking enthusiasm of agitated hyenas (which was the sound signaling their approach just moments before they pretended to be stuffed with marshmallows). 

The Little Pals were seated in a circle and wearing their jackets when their big friends arrived.  Mrs. Reichley greeted the small group.  “I brought your Big Pals!”  Fervent waving ensued and hugs soon followed. 

A second difficulty came when it was reasoned that the weather was being uncooperative.  Though the Little Pals were decked out in adequate attire for the elements, it soon became obvious that the Big Pals would freeze to an undesirable stiffness in the raw rainy chill.  As the oldest and most revered students of Penn View, most of the eighth graders arrive at school in April too suave for a jacket. Another noisy journey in the hallway to retrieve the few available coats scrunched into lockers was not an effective solution.  So in the interest of staying warm and dry, the decision was made to play with the parachute indoors.

Recall your own PE parachute experience.  You might remember that this activity can happen very effectively in a large gymnasium. A regular-sized classroom, however, was another situation entirely. Desks and cabinets were moved to the perimeter of the classroom and the colorful parachute was unrolled.  Anticipation was off the charts.  Handles were clutched and Mrs. Reichley’s instructions were clear.  “Just go up as high as the Little Pals' arms can go.”

With the first ballooning of the parachute, every lightweight item which was not firmly attached to EC teacher Mrs. Ness’ desk took flight.  A multitude of paper adornments affixed to classroom walls began flapping riotously, as if cheering on the group’s antics with zealous celebratory patronage.  It was like being inside a wind tunnel, which amplified the already unbridled enthusiasm of the students.  Adrenalin was pumping and many of the Little Pals could not keep their feet anchored to the floor.  They were hopping around like tiny rabbits as they held tight to the parachute handle.

It was time to mix things up.  At the teacher’s instruction, the Little Pals climbed beneath the parachute and huddled together on the floor in the center.  They were giggling nonstop.  

Perhaps the most amusing portion of this exercise was watching my helpful photographer (Marketing Director Kathy Gordon) as she crouched under the parachute with all of the little people. 

The woman will do anything to get a good shot!  

When the Big Pals lifted their arms, a mass of laughing, clustered children could be seen, hair standing on end with static electricity. 

“Let’s try that again with slightly less violence”, Mrs. Reichley was heard to say.  The Little Pals clearly loved it when the parachute landed on their heads.  Soon, the groups switched places, the excited Little Pals keen to drop that parachute onto their hunkering Big Pals. 

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more stimulating, the students began to play a game called Cat and Mouse.  Three Big Pals were chosen to be mice under the parachute and three Little Pals were chosen to get into the center of the parachute on hands and knees to tag the mice.  Reminders were given.  “Tag the mouse, don’t jump on the mouse….”  

Everyone else took position to lift and lower their portion of the parachute to make waves.  

The wave-makers took their job very seriously, working up a serious sweat and causing an imposing storm upon that silk sea.  

While Makenna, Delaney and Cedar scrambled under the parachute accumulating an imbalance of electrical charges on their skin, little cats Ben, Micah and Ainsley scampered about attempting to flatten the mice. 

Delaney admitted it was a little bit scary to be crawling furtively under the parachute with tiny cats in hot pursuit!  

I am sure the second graders were wondering what on earth was going on across the hall as the raucous group's thunderous amusement and squealing was barely muffled by the classroom walls and door. 

Click link here to enjoy some of the excitement for yourself:  

In retrospect, I should have offered to help Mrs. Ness reattach her classroom decorations after those impressive wind gusts subsided.

I suspect the PALS will be smiling over their wonderful blustery memory for years to come.