LOL (Lots of Ladybugs)

This started pretty innocently enough. The kids came in from lunch recess one day and some of them were carrying little containers filled with grass and ladybugs. I thought that it was super nice of whoever was on recess duty to go "out of there way" to help the kids find a way to house their beloved ladybug friends. I let the kids show me their bugs, explain to me where they got them, etc., etc. Then I asked them to put them on a shelf so we could get started with math. Let's just say, we didn't get a whole lot of math accomplished that day. Kids were constantly looking over at their ladybugs and just distracted by them in general. So, I had them put them in their cubbies. EVEN worse. The kids kept worrying about their bugs and kept opening their cubbies to examine them during center time. Finally, the bell rang and I was able to send all those kids and ladybugs home. Phew! Well, a couple more days went by and kids kept coming back from lunch recess, sporting those little containers (that are usually used for the salsa on burrito day) and ladybugs (who is this recess aide that keeps promoting ladybugs as pets?)! So, by about day 3, I was not having it! I told the kids that ladybugs are happier living out on the grass and that I would wait one minute for them to put their ladybug back out on the lawn. I confiscated those blasted containers and told the kids "no more." (Flash forward a few minutes until we're deep into our math lesson. . .) "Mrs. Peterson, why don't you like ladybugs?" one of my kids asked. "I LIKE ladybugs." I said. "I just don't like that I can't teach you anything when they are in the room! All you want to do is look at them. So, I think we should leave them outside and look at them during recess only." Now, you'd think that would be the end, NOPE! Each day I would hear two or three kids say the following phrase, "Mrs. Peterson, ____________ has a ladybug!" To which I would reply, "well, we all know the rule; NO LADYBUGS!" I would have the child put it outside and then turn a card (an ugly consequence to poor behavior). After a few more days of utter and complete disregard of the new "no ladybugs" rule, I thought I would go crazy! Kids were still bringing these bugs in the classroom! Most of the time they could not get it past me (they were too overly concerned with something in their pocket or on their sock, I would end up finding the ladybug or someone else would and rat them out). But after a while, a couple of my "die-hards" started a new trick. They would bring in the bugs and then turn them loose in the classroom so they wouldn't get caught with them. I was seeing ladybugs EVERYWHERE! One would be crawling on the shelf another across my desk, two or three on the rug! Man those ladybugs were driving me nuts!!!! The last straw was probably the time when one of the kids came up to me and said, "Mrs. Peterson, check Kylee's pocket." I said, "Why? Does she have something in there she's not supposed to?" "Yeah. She does!!!" So, I walked over to Kylee who had her hand in her pocket. I asked her to hand over whatever it was she had in there. She pulled her little cupped hand out of her pocket and opened it up onto mine to release a good dozen or so ladybugs! She actually had to wipe her sweaty little hand onto mine to release all of the ones that were sticking to her! Yep. That was the minute I knew for sure we had a problem! I put those ladybugs in a jar. Then I instructed the kids to follow me outside. I told them they had 5 minutes to capture as many ladybugs as they could find (oh you would have thought it was Christmas Morning with all of the squealing that was going on)! We walked around the school to all the best ladybug spots and everyone found at least two or three to add to the ladybug jar. The kids made sure their bugs had plenty of grass to nibble on while they were being held hostage. So, at this point, I wasn't sure what we were going to do with all the bugs? I think my initial thought was to just get the ladybugs OUT of the kids' systems. I thought if I took some time to properly appreciate the ladybug obsession, maybe the kids would be more willing to cooperate with me on the ladybug rule. So far it has worked. We took some pictures of our beloved friends before we let them go (again explaining that they are much better off in the grass and that by them being there, they are keeping the aphids under control . . .blah, blah, blah). So, our ladybug problem seems to be dying down! I'm not so sure I LIKE ladybugs as much as I used to (gotta say, I'm a little tired of them) but they are still super cute and every time I see one, I'm sure I will think of these kids and how they grinned from ear to ear upon finding them in the grass.