Keeping It Straight

Last Friday, the reps talked to all the classes about the food drive. They put up the posters we made and told them which foods to bring in.

They reminded everyone that the grade that brings in the most cans wins the homework-free week.

It has been a week since the food drive started. I expected kids to bring in lots of cans. But I never expected that this would turn into a problem.

Keeping the cans straight has been a big challenge. If you don’t believe me, keep reading and you’ll see what I mean.

MONDAY

Monday was the first day that kids could bring in cans. Joey and I were in the gym with Mrs. Daily during lunch when the second-grade reps, Tristan and Amy, brought in the bags of cans their grade had collected.

“Look how many cans we have,” said Amy as they started taking cans out of the bags and stacking them in the second-grade area.

While they were stacking, Marcus and Mike brought in the bags of cans the third graders had collected. They put their bags down next to Amy and Tristan’s and started stacking their cans in the third-grade area.

But while they were stacking, they got confused about whose bags were whose.

“That bag belongs to the second grade,” said Tristan when Marcus picked up one of the bags and started taking cans out of it.

“It belongs to the third grade,” said Marcus.

The next thing I knew, Tristan and Marcus were shouting over who brought the bag in.

Mrs. Daily stopped the argument. “That bag belongs to the second grade,” she said as she took the bag from Marcus and handed it to Tristan.

All I can say is that I’m glad Mrs. Daily was there to be the referee.

TUESDAY

On Tuesday, there was another problem over who brought in which cans, but the problem didn’t happen in the gym. It happened in the bathroom.

I didn’t see the problem when it happened. But I heard about it.

Mary Ann told me she and Zoe stopped in the bathroom on their way to take the fifth grade’s cans to the gym. When they went in, they had seven plastic grocery bags filled with cans, but when they came out, she said they only had six.

“While we were using the bathroom, we heard a group of sixth-grade girls come into the bathroom, and we think they took one of our bags,” said Zoe.

Even though Mary Ann and Zoe seemed sure of what happened, I wasn’t convinced. “If you were using the bathroom, how do you know it was sixth-grade girls who came into the bathroom?” I asked.

“By their shoes,” said Mary Ann.

A lot of sixth-grade girls have cute shoes, so that made sense. But something else didn’t. Why did Mary Ann and Zoe both have to go to the bathroom right then? Couldn’t they have waited until after they’d dropped off the bags? Or taken turns so that one of them was always watching the bags? But I didn’t say any of that, because I didn’t want them to think I was blaming them.

Instead, I asked, “Is it possible you could have miscounted your bags?”

When I said that, Mary Ann and Zoe looked at each other.

“Don’t you want the fifth grade to win the homework-free week?” asked Zoe.

“Whose side are you on?” Mary Ann asked me.

I told them that as head of the food drive, I’m on the side of fairness, but I don’t think that was the side they wanted me to pick. It seemed like winning the homework-free week was more important to them than bringing in food for people who need it, which was the whole point of the food drive. The things they said bothered me for the rest of the day.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday, the problems over who brought in which cans continued. At lunch, all the reps from all the grades brought cans into the gym. By this point, there were a lot of cans, but the fourth grade had a lot more cans than any other grade.

Everyone noticed it. Especially one of the third-grade reps, Annabelle Blake. “What if people try to move cans so their grade will have more cans?” Annabelle asked.

Olivia Fine, one of the sixth-grade reps, rolled her eyes. “None of the reps are going to cheat,” she said.

“For a homework-free week they might,” said Annabelle.

Mrs. Daily spoke up. “I trust all the reps to be honest.”

But Annabelle wasn’t as trusting. “Maybe we need to hire a security guard to watch the cans,” she said.

Mrs. Daily told Annabelle we’re going to have to depend on an honor system and not a security guard.

THURSDAY

By Thursday, the cans were really stacking up. Every rep from every grade brought in more cans. Most of the cans were where they were supposed to be—in the sections for each grade. But some of the cans were in front of the sections and some of the cans were behind the sections. After school, Joey and I went to the gym with Mrs. Daily so we could straighten up the donations.

“It’s kind of hard to tell which cans belong to which grade,” said Joey.

“I think we should post a sign that reminds the reps to stack their cans neatly in the section for their grade,” I said.

“That’s a good idea,” said Mrs. Daily. So Joey and I made a sign.

Then I made a wish that people would pay attention to it.

FRIDAY

Now it’s Friday, and all day long, kids were still bringing in cans to school.

They were also talking about the food drive and how much they want to win the homework-free week.

I know this because Joey and I went to all the classrooms this morning to remind kids that Monday is the last day to bring in cans.

But no one needed reminding.

The first and second graders showed us the sticker charts their teachers had put up outside their classrooms.

“We get a sticker for every can we bring in,” said one first grader.

“We want to get a lot of stickers,” said a second grader.

“And we want to win the homework-free week,” another second grader said. Then all the second graders started cheering.

When Joey and I went to visit the third grade, they were rehearsing a song for the Thanksgiving assembly next week. When they finished singing, they told Joey and me they’ll be onstage twice at the assembly next week.

“Once when we sing our song,” said one third grader.

“And a second time when we win the homework-free week,” said another third grader. When he said that, the third graders all started clapping like that was exactly what they planned to do.

I was surprised how competitive the first, second, and third graders were. But they weren’t competitive at all compared to the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.

After school, reps from all the grades brought their cans to the gym and the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade reps were all talking about how their grade was going to win the homework-free week.

“The fourth grade is just getting started,” said Annabelle.

“The sixth grade is going to win,” said Jake.

“You won’t beat the fifth grade,” said Zoe. “We’re bringing in more cans on Monday.”

I think Jake took that as a challenge because he said, “Game on.” Then he gave Olivia a look like they needed to get their classmates to bring in more cans.

I felt like I needed to remind everyone what the food drive is really about. “Helping other people is what’s important,” I said.

“So is winning a homework-free week,” said Jake.

When we left the gym, I told Joey I was excited everyone was so into the food drive, but I was also a little worried that maybe kids are too into winning the homework-free week.

“At least we’re going to collect a lot of cans,” he said.

Joey had a point. But still, I was worried that the hype over the homework-free week had gotten out of hand.