Notes: Mari and Sammy - thanks for being the best, always!
Readers and REAL McRollers - thank you for your incredible support!
Raise your hand if you can't believe Jacob is in third grade and that this is the FOURTH story with Steve and Cath visiting his class. I can't quite believe it either :-)
Thank you again to our wonderful jmlane for letting me use your name for Jacob's teacher.
Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Commander Steve Goes to Third Grade (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
Jacob's third grade class was still outside for their lunch recess when Steve and Catherine arrived in his classroom. The desks had all been rearranged into stations all around the room with various science, technology, engineering, and math activities on them. Joni Lane, Jacob's teacher for the last three years, was setting out items next to several laptop computers on a collection of desks. She smiled at their entrance.
"Catherine, Steve, thank you for coming in early," she said in greeting.
"Of course," Catherine replied with a warm smile for the teacher she'd immediately liked and respected from the first time they met. "I know there's quite a bit to go over before the big STEM afternoon."
"I've tested everything, but this is my first time doing these projects with the students so I'm actually really glad the two of you are here. Between the three of us I'm sure we can figure everything out."
Steve nodded confidently. "Absolutely."
Joni picked up her clipboard and smiled at them. "I'm so glad you've made this an annual tradition. I know Jacob loves having you both here together, and so do the other children."
"I always have a great visiting your class," Catherine said, "but I have to admit the Commander Steve days are the best. We've gotten to do a lot of fun activities thanks to you."
"Yeah, the trip to the aquarium last year, and Field Day the year before that," Steve listed.
Joni smiled broadly, her eyes twinkling. "I still remember the two of you competing in the obstacle course. I swear that was the highlight for lots of the kids."
Catherine stood up even straighter, smirking at Steve. "Do you mean the obstacle course race that I won?"
Steve folded his arms, trying to glare at her but completely unable to follow through, and grinned. "We still need a rematch on that one, Rollins."
"Anytime, McGarrett," she easily returned.
"You two are so adorable, has anyone ever told you that?"
Catherine snorted when Steve winced a little in response.
"And speaking of adorable," Joni went on, "how is little Miss Angie?"
Both parents' expressions immediately morphed into happy smiles at the mention of their daughter.
"She's wonderful," Catherine said, pulling out her phone and showing Joni a recent picture.
"Ohhh, what a cutie!"
"She's spending the day with her grandparents and great-grandmother who are no doubt spoiling her," Catherine said.
Joni smiled. "That's what grandparents are for. According to Jacob, she's a 'crawling machine.' "
Steve nodded. "She did the commando crawl for a bit, but once she figured out how to get onto her hands and knees, she took off and hasn't looked back."
"She'll be walking before you know it," Joni said.
"She's already trying to pull herself up," he reported proudly. "Just doesn't quite have the strength yet."
Catherine put her hand on his arm. "But to be safe, Daddy here lowered her crib mattress."
Joni nodded. "That was smart. You can't be too careful." She smiled. "Well, I could stand here and talk about that little sweetheart all day, but we've only got about fifteen minutes until recess is over so we should probably get ourselves organized." She consulted her clipboard. "The first round is the technology round. I borrowed three different variations of circuitry from the STEM lab: Snap Circuits, littleBits, and MakeyMakeys."
Catherine chuckled. "I don't know what any of those are, but they all sound fun."
Joni motioned to the desks behind her. "I'll take the MakeyMakey station." She held up a small red object with various alligator clips attached to it. "We're going to test different objects for conductivity by using the MakeyMakey to control the computer keys. For example, we can find out if this banana is conductive by poking one of the alligator clips in and giving it a little tap." She stuck one end of a blue alligator clip into the banana, held the end of a gray clip, and used her other hand to tap the banana. A bongo drum sound came from the laptop.
"Hey, that's pretty cool," Steve said, leaning closer.
"I've set out a bunch of different objects, some that are conductive and some that aren't, for the kids to experiment with. They'll fill out a chart with their results."
"Nice," Catherine said with a smile.
"Then over here," Joni said, leading them to another station, "we have littleBits. These are a lot of fun. You connect a pink input bit like a button or a switch to a green output bit like a light or a buzzer. Connect them both to the blue power bit and try it out." She demonstrated with a button that turned on a LED.
"Neat," Catherine said, picking up a couple of her own and trying them out.
"I think once the kids have the basic formula of blue plus pink plus green, they can start to figure out how the bits differ from each other and which will work best to create different outcomes. There's a little challenge chart here for them to try and turn on a light, make a noise, that kind of thing."
Steve grinned. "I think we found Catherine's station," he said as she reached for another green bit to add to her growing chain.
She grinned right back, unashamed. "This is gonna be fun."
"Perfect," Joni said, jotting Catherine's name on her clipboard next to the littleBits station. She looked back up. "Never fear, Commander, I think you'll like this last station. These are Snap Circuits. I've started the kids off with a fairly simple kit. They'll probably have the most fun with the flying saucer, but there are a few other projects on the diagrams there as well."
He nodded, glancing at the diagrams she indicated. "No problem."
"The second round will be for the engineering stations," Joni said, leading them to the next set of desks. "We have the spaghetti marshmallow building challenge. The kids will try to build a stable structure using uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows. We've been talking this week about different shapes and which are the strongest. It'll be interesting to see if they use what they learned in the context of the challenge."
"I think the real challenge will be getting the kids to build with rather than eat the marshmallows," Catherine said wryly.
"You know them well," Joni said, grinning. "I have a separate stash of 'snacking marshmallows' for after the challenge. These ones here are strictly for building." She led them to the next set of desks. "Same with this next station. This is the space lander challenge. We've also been talking about shock absorption and stabilization in science. The kids can use these materials to try and build a space lander that will keep their 'alien marshmallows' in the cup when they drop it from a foot off the ground." She demonstrated using a model she had built using a cup taped to a piece of cardstock with several pieces of accordion-folded paper underneath. She chuckled as one of the marshmallows in the cup popped out. "Mine needs some adjustments. It only works about half the time. I think it's important kids see that experiments don't always work, but that's how we learn."
"Exactly," Steve agreed.
"Then there's the marble run challenge," Joni said, showing them two desks that had large pieces of cardboard secured to them and running down to the floor at an angle. "There's duct tape here and plenty of toilet paper tubes for them to build the wildest marble run they can. I actually thought you might have fun with this one, Commander."
He smiled. "I think I will," he agreed.
Joni jotted his name on her clipboard. "And Catherine, if you could take the spaghetti and marshmallow structures?"
"Sure."
"That leaves me with the space lander." She finished writing and said, "Okay, for the last round, we have the potentially messy activities. Slime, lava lamps, and non-Newtonian fluids. Do either of you have a preference?"
Steve looked at Catherine questioningly.
"I'd love to do the lava lamps," she admitted. "I always thought the real ones were so cool, and I can't wait to see how you make a DIY version."
Joni smiled. "I think you'll like it. It involves vegetable oil, water, food coloring, and alka-seltzer tablets." She jotted down Catherine's name on clipboard then looked at Steve.
"I'll do the non-Newtonian fluid," he said with a little shrug.
Catherine glanced up at him, her brow slightly furrowed. "Are you sure about that?"
"Gotta be less messy than slime," he reasoned.
"You think?"
"Yeah. Obviously." He grinned. "Maybe I can make it two years in a row with clean pants after a visit to Jacob's class."
"Well, actually–" Joni began, but stopped when Catherine subtly shook her head. "Okay," she continued, writing on her clipboard. "Commander Steve on Oobleck."
Steve's eyebrows shot up. "Oobleck? I thought it was non-Newtonian fluids."
"It is. Oobleck's the fun name for the experiment. I've also heard it called magic goo."
" 'Magic goo'?" he repeated.
Catherine grinned. "Not so sure about those clean pants anymore, are you, Commander?"
He cleared his throat. "Maybe one of you should–"
"Your name's already on the duty roster, sailor," Catherine said. "Not like you to back out of an assignment."
He straightened immediately, hands going to his hips. "I'm not backing out. All right, oo– oob– what is it?"
"Oobleck," Joni and Catherine said at the same time.
"Oobleck," he said resolutely. "Show me how it's done."
A few minutes later, the class returned from recess. Jacob, on the lookout for two of his favorite people, spotted Steve and Catherine immediately and ran over.
"You're here!" he cried. He gave Catherine a huge hug before giving Steve one of his own. "You remembered!"
"Of course we did," Catherine said. "We've been looking forward to this for weeks."
"You, too, Uncle Steve?"
"Me, too," Steve said with a smile.
"Commander Steve and Lieutenant Catherine are here!" Keone cried.
"Yeah, we know," Ameera said. "That's what Ms. Lane said before lunch."
"Class, the sooner we get ourselves organized, the sooner we'll be able to start our STEM afternoon with our very special helpers," their teacher said. "Please stand together with your deskmates so we can get started."
Once the students had grouped themselves, Ms. Lane did a quick once over and nodded to herself.
"Okay, since we have a couple people absent, we have fifteen students today. Each STEM round will have three stations, so who can do some quick division and tell me how many people we need in each group to make them the same size?"
Ani's hand shot up. "Five!"
"That's right. So Jeremy, please join group one, Alani, please join group two, and Matthew please join group three. Now we have three groups of five. Perfect." She smiled at her class. "All right. We have lots of fun STEM stations for you to try today. Your group will have ten minutes per station and then we'll rotate. Don't worry, everyone is going to get a chance to try each station this afternoon. I want you to try your best, don't give up, annnnnd …?"
"Have fun!" her class chorused.
She smiled. "That's right. Okay, let's get started. Group one, please go with Lieutenant Catherine to the littleBits station."
"Yes!" Jacob cried, pumping his fist as he ran toward Catherine.
Ms. Lane smiled knowingly at that. "Group two, please join Commander Steve at the Snap Circuits. And group three, you're starting with me on the MakeyMakeys. Let our STEM afternoon begin!"
"Lieutenant Catherine, I can't get these to stay," Kalea said, holding a pink and green bit in each hand.
"You know, there's a trick," Catherine said. "Has anyone figured it out yet?"
"They're magnetic!" Jacob said, holding up his own circuits.
"That's right, but there's also a way to tell just from looking at them which way they go. Take a close look and see if you can spot it."
The five third-graders all bent over their littleBits, studying them.
"What do you see?" Catherine prompted, looking at each of them in turn.
"You gotta put the colors next to each other," Jeremy said, motioning to the edges of the bits that displayed their color most prominently.
Catherine nodded. "Yes, and what's on those colors?"
"There's an X," Reggie said quietly.
"What was that, Reggie?" Catherine asked.
"There's a little X on them. If you match up the X's, they hook together."
Catherine smiled warmly at him. "Exactly right. So look for your Xs and remember the formula. Blue plus pink plus green."
"Hey, I got all the lights to come on!" Jacob cried, pointing to the bar graph while he held the presser sensor down to keep them on.
"Great!" Catherine said. "Now try pressing very lightly and see what happens."
"Whoa, only two lights come on!"
"So that green bit is sensing pressure," Catherine explained. "It senses how hard your pressing down."
Jacob grinned, experimenting with different pressures to see how the lights changed.
"Mine still doesn't work!" Kalea complained, frowning at her littleBits, now hooked together in a line.
Catherine went around the desks and stood behind her. "Uh oh, I think I see the problem. You still need to do one very important thing." When Kalea didn't answer, she tapped the battery connected to the blue power bit.
Kalea gasped, then laughed. "I didn't turn it on!" She slid the switch on the bit over and immediately the green bit began buzzing loudly.
"Ah!" Jacob said, covering his ears even as he laughed. "Can I try that one next, Kalea?"
"I wanna do that one, too!" Ani said.
"Me next!" Jeremy cried.
Catherine smiled through her wince. "I have a feeling that's going to be a popular littleBit." She searched the table and picked up a specific pink bit. "Since you guys like sound so much, do you want to try something cool I discovered?"
"Yeah!" Jacob said immediately.
"This littleBit works differently than a button or a switch. This one works by sound." She hooked it to an LED bit and turned on the power. The light came on and Catherine put a finger to her lips, indicating everyone should be quiet. The light went out and she held out her hands as if to clap, silently urging them all to do the same. She mouthed, "One, two, three," and they all clapped. As soon as they did, the light came back on.
"Whoa!" Jacob exclaimed.
"That was cool!" Kalea said. "Let's do it again."
"Okay, everyone quiet," Catherine said. They waited for the light to go out and repeated their combined clap to turn it back on. "What's happening here? What's the pink bit sensing?"
"Noise!" Ani said. "When it hears noise, the light comes on."
"That's right," Catherine said. "So why is the light on now?"
"Because we're all talking," Reggie said.
"Exactly!" Catherine said.
"Hey, we could make the light come on with the buzzer," Kalea said excitedly.
Catherine chuckled ruefully. "And we're back to the buzzer. That didn't take long." She grinned. "Let's give it a try."
"Okay, both teams have their flying saucers ready to go?" Steve asked, looking at the two groups standing at opposite ends of the configuration of desks.
"Yeah!" Keone said, his finger hovering over the button on the green switch as Alani stood next to him.
Steve looked at the other group.
"We're ready," Sydney said, glancing at Sophia and Owen beside her who nodded.
Steve raised a hand. "Okay, hold down your buttons," he waited as Sydney and Keone pressed down on the buttons, starting the motor and the flying saucer on top of it spinning, "and countdown. Three, two …"
"One!" all the kids cried. Sydney and Keone both released their buttons, but only Sydney's group's flying saucer rose into the air.
"Whoa!" the exclaimed as the simple green disc flew about eight feet above the table. All three jumped to try and catch it as it came down.
"Nice job," Steve said, offering a hand for a high five from each.
"Ours is busted," Keone complained.
"I don't think it's busted," Steve said, coming over to them. "Let's see if we can figure this out together." He looked at the other group. "You guys take turns flying, okay?"
"Okay!" Ameera said, excited.
"It's my turn next!" Owen cried.
On the other side of the desks, Keone frowned at their setup. "Maybe the batteries don't work."
"That's one idea," Steve said, "but if the batteries didn't work, would the motor spin when you press the button?"
Keone slumped. "No."
"Right. Now you've got all the right pieces, so maybe there's something about how they're arranged that we can change."
"We put the green piece upside down," Keone said, pulling the switch off their board. The writing had indeed been upside down. "Let's turn it around."
"Okay, give it a try," Steve said. He'd spotted the problem while the groups were constructing their circuit, but wanted them to have the chance to figure it out for themselves.
Keone pushed the button, but again when he released it their red flying saucer stayed in place on top of the motor.
"Hey, look!" Alani said suddenly, pointing to the diagram. "There's a little plus sign on the motor piece. It's supposed to be by the blue piece, but ours is by the battery."
"So what should we do?" Steve asked.
"Flip it around!" She grabbed the flying saucer off and turned the motor piece around before placing the red plastic back on top.
"Give it a try," Steve encouraged.
"You press the button, Alani," Keone said. "It was your idea."
Steve gave him a quick nod and Keone smiled at the silent approval.
Alani pressed the button for a few seconds and released it. The flying saucer lifted into the air, all three pairs of eyes tracking its progress with wide smiles.
"Yes!" Keone said, pumping a fist.
Both kids reached to catch it on the way down. Keone's fingertips hit it and it sailed to the floor where Alani picked it up.
"We did it!" she said.
"That was really good problem-solving, you two," Steve said. "You didn't give up, and you kept trying new things until you figured out what to do."
"Yeah!" Keone said. "Let do it again!"
"But hang on one second," Steve continued. He flipped their motor back around to their original configuration. "That little plus sign you saw, Alani, was pretty important. That indicated the polarity on the motor and reversing it changed what your circuit did. You actually had something the first time, just not what you were expecting."
"What do you mean?" Alani asked, looking confused.
"Look at this," Steve said, pressing the button again. "The flying saucer isn't going to lift off, but what is it instead?"
"A spinner?" Keone guessed.
"That's true, and what else?" Steve asked. "Put your hand over it. What do you feel?"
Alani put her hand over the flying saucer and gasped. "Wind! It's a fan!"
"That's right. You invented a fan. Sometimes inventions happen by accident."
"Like that medicine," Keone said. "My dad was reading me this book about inventions and stuff."
"That's right, penicillin was created by accident," Steve said. "So even when an experiment doesn't turn out the way you thought, that doesn't mean it was a failure."
"So we figured out how to make a fan and we fixed the flying saucer," Alani said proudly.
"You did, and I think that deserves two high fives," Steve said. He held up his hands and both kids excitedly slapped him high five on each one.
"Ms. Lane told me you all have been talking about shapes," Catherine said, addressing her first spaghetti/marshmallow tower group. "Who remembers which one is the strongest?"
"Triangle!" Owen said.
"I still think a square would be stronger," Sophia said. "It's got more sides."
"Well, that's what today is for," Catherine said. "Experimenting. So let's try them out and see what we discover."
"Then we can eat the marshmallows?" Keone asked.
Catherine smiled. "We have special colorful marshmallows for snacking," she said. "The marshmallows on the desks are just for building. I promise after we're done with our towers, we'll get to eat a few, so long as you resist temptation while we're making our structures. Deal?"
"Deal!" Keone said, and his response was echoed by the other kids.
"All right, let's start building," Catherine said.
The kids scrambled to grab pieces of uncooked spaghetti and pressed the ends into marshmallows, working together to make them into three-dimensional shapes.
"It keeps slipping," Sydney said. "We gotta put one down here, too." She pointed to the bottom of her group's attempt.
"Yeah," Owen agreed, jamming a piece of spaghetti into one of the marshmallows at the base. It snapped in half. "Oops." He looked up at Catherine who had joined their group. "Spaghetti isn't very strong."
"Maybe not one piece by itself, but when you put them together, they get stronger and stronger," she said.
"Like how two heads are better than one!" Sydney said.
"Teamwork makes the dream work!" Owen added.
Catherine smiled, glancing over to where Steve was holding a toilet paper roll in place while Takisha taped it down. Her expression softened.
"It certainly does," she said.
Steve stood in front of the five kids in group three as they knelt by the two cardboard pieces finishing up their marble runs.
"Why didn't you bring your baby?" Ameera asked as she taped a toilet paper tube onto the white butcher paper that covered the cardboard. "I really want to hold her."
"She's a little young for these kinds of experiments," Steve said. He glanced at his watch. "Besides, she should be taking her afternoon nap by now."
"Lieutenant Catherine brought her to visit before," Takisha pressed.
"Right, I remember," Steve said. "But that was a special visit so you could all meet Angie. Lieutenant Catherine wasn't staying for the whole afternoon that time."
"But she looked sooooo cute," Ameera said.
Matthew made a face. "She looked like a baby."
"Yeah, a cute baby," Ameera reiterated. "Don't you think she's cute, Commander Steve?"
"I think she's beautiful," he replied.
"You gotta think that, you're her dad," Matthew countered.
Steve chuckled. "And you know what else? She's smart, so when she gets older, she's gonna make a marble run that's even better than yours," he teased.
"Better than the Thunder and Lightning Express?" Keahi balked. "No way!"
Steve grinned at him. "Thunder and Lightning Express, huh? All right, let's see this thing in action." He handed Keahi a marble and watched as the boy stood by the top of the cardboard.
"All aboard for Thunder and Lightning!" He dropped the marble in the first paper tube and they listened as it wound its way through the various curves and angles till it finally rolled out the bottom.
"Bam!" Matthew said. "Thunder and Lightning Express!"
"Nice job, guys," Steve said. "What about you three–" he started, turning toward the other group.
"Are you gonna have more kids?" Ameera asked suddenly.
Steve raised his eyebrows, but only paused for a moment at the question. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "Right now we're enjoying watching Angie grow and change. We're enjoying being her parents."
"You'd still be her parents if you had more kids," Ameera pointed out.
He huffed a little laugh at her persistence and logic. "That's true. But for now, we're happy." He nodded at her group's marble run. "Now what's the hold up here? You guys have three people, but the Thunder and Lightning Express is already done."
"We're still decorating!" Takisha said, marker in hand.
"Okay, but does your marble run work?" Steve asked.
"I don't know," Maurion, the third member of their group, said.
"Only one way to find out," Steve said, holding out a marble.
"Can I pour the oil?" Ameera asked.
Catherine smiled, hefting the gallon bottle of vegetable oil. "Thank you for offering, but this is pretty heavy so I'm going to do the pouring. But I do need you to hold the funnel in place so I don't spill."
"I bet you never spill, Lieutenant Catherine," Takisha said.
"Oh, sure I do. We all spill things and make mistakes. What's important is what we do after."
"Clean it up!" Keahi said.
"Right," Catherine agreed. "And learn from what went wrong."
"Then can I pour the water?" Ameera asked, pointing at the smaller pitcher on the desk. "That's not so heavy."
"Absolutely. But let's get the oil in your bottle first since you need the most of that. Hold the funnel steady." She started to pour oil into Ameera's small bottle. "Is that two-thirds of the way full?" she asked.
"Yep," Ameera said.
"You gotta bend over and look," Takisha said. "That's what my mom does when she's cooking."
"That is the best way to see if you measured right," Catherine agreed.
Ameera bent to be eye level with the liquid. "It's not to the line yet," she announced.
"Okay, tell me when," Catherine said, and slowly poured a little more oil in.
"Stop!" Ameera said. "Now can I pour the water?"
"Yes. But first let's make a guess at what's going to happen when you do. What do you think? Are they going to mix together? Is the water going to stay on top? Is it going to go to the bottom?"
"They're not going to mix," Matthew said. "Oil and water don't mix."
"So what do you think is going to happen instead?" Catherine asked.
"I think it's going to stay on top," Ameera said.
"Yeah, me, too," Keahi agreed. The other kids nodded.
"Okay, give it a try," Catherine said. "Remember to stop below the rim of the bottle. Maurion, can you hold the funnel for Ameera while she pours?"
He readily agreed. Catherine moved on to pour oil in Takisha's bottle while Ameera grabbed the water pitcher and started to pour.
"That's too much!" Maurion cried a moment later as the bottle overflowed.
"You were holding the funnel wrong!" Ameera immediately said.
"No, I wasn't!"
"Hey, hey," Catherine stepped in. "There's no reason for blame. Remember what we said about spills and mistakes." She grabbed a few paper towels from the middle of the desk.
"Clean it up," Takisha said.
"And learn from what when wrong," Matthew finished.
"So what would you do differently next time?" Catherine asked Ameera as she helped the girl wipe up the spilled water.
Ameera twisted her lips, but finally said, "Pour slower."
"Like Lieutenant Catherine does," Keahi said.
"That's a good idea," Catherine said.
"Hey, look!" Ameera said, pointing to her bottle. "The water went to the bottom!"
Catherine smiled. "It did. You guys were right that oil and water don't mix."
"But it didn't stay at the top so water must be heavier," Matthew said.
"Not heavier," Catherine said. "Denser. That means the molecules in the water are closer together. And that's going to be important once we put the alka-seltzer in. So let's get everyone else's bottles filled so we can see what happens."
Jacob was bouncing with excitement as Steve placed the final two bowls of water in front of him and Reggie.
"Okay, now you're going to add the cup of cornstarch and stir it together," Steve told the group. "Keep in mind that stirring isn't going to be easy so it might help to add just a little cornstarch at a time."
"I got mine!" Jacob said, grabbing for his cup of cornstarch.
"Are we gonna put colors in it?" Reggie asked quietly.
Steve bent down to hear Reggie better. "What'd you say, Reggie?"
Before Reggie could respond, Jacob dumped the whole cup of cornstarch in his bowl and started stirring wildly. Steve jerked as the white powdery substance flew into the air, spraying the side of his face.
Jacob looked on, eyes wide, frozen in place. He cringed. "Sorry, Uncle Steve."
Steve blinked a few times and blew out a breath, running a hand over his face to clear some of the cornstarch away. He couldn't help but chuckle as he straightened. "That's okay, Jacob. I should've guessed I wasn't gonna come out of this one clean."
Kalea laughed. "That was so funny!"
"Yeah," Jacob agreed, laughing now, too.
"Funny, huh?" Steve said, brushing at his forehead. "Maybe, but we're not gonna have much to play with if most of the cornstarch is on the table and on me, so let's try and keep it in the bowl, huh?"
"Okay, Uncle Steve. But can I get some more?"
"Stir what you've got, carefully," he stressed. "Then we'll add some more. Now, Reggie, what were you asking?"
"Can we put some colors in?" Reggie asked again.
"Yep, after you get yours mixed we'll add some food coloring."
"This stuff is weird!" Ani said, poking her finger into her mixture.
Steve smiled. "Try poking it really fast."
"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "It's hard!"
"Now go slow again," Steve said.
She pushed her finger in slowly and watched it sink. "That is so cool!"
"It's like a liquid and a solid!" Kalea said, leaning over to poke a finger in Ani's bowl.
"That's right, depending on the pressure you exert on it," Steve said, standing beside her. "So get to mixing and then you'll have your own to try."
Kalea grinned and picked up her spoon to stir. Within seconds, the side of Steve's pants were sprinkled with white powder. He looked down and sighed, shaking his head.
"Yep, should've known," he muttered with a resigned smile.
After all the activities were complete, Ms. Lane directed the class and their special helpers in the clean-up process and the room was soon put back the way it was. Steve and Catherine joined the class outside for a much-deserved break.
"Thank you so much again for coming to help," the teacher said as the three adults stood off to the side watching the kids burn off energy. "I think everyone had a lot of fun and learned a lot."
"So did we," Catherine said.
"Yeah, like not to stand too close to a group of third-graders with cornstarch," Steve said, looking down at his powdered-covered clothes.
Catherine laughed. "I think you've got more cornstarch on you than the kids do."
"Well, they only did the activity once," he pointed out as he fruitlessly brushed at his t-shirt and pants. "I helped fifteen kids who let's just say have not quite mastered controlled stirring."
She chuckled. "You sound like Danny." She reached up and brushed some cornstarch from his hair.
"They were excited," Joni said, smiling.
"That's for sure," Steve agreed.
"And it'll wash out," Catherine added.
"It will," he said. "I had a little reprieve last year from getting my pants dirty but it looks like it's back to messy this year."
"I think you actually like it," Catherine said, grinning at him.
His smile confirmed her guess.
Joni sighed happily. "I'm gonna miss this group next year."
"You're not going to move up with them again?" Catherine asked.
"No, I was lucky enough to have them for three years, it's time to let another teacher enjoy this special class."
"Well, they've certainly been lucky to have you, too," Catherine said.
Steve nodded his agreement.
"You're very kind," Joni said. "I hope you'll both keep visiting the class."
"Absolutely," Catherine said.
"As long as Jacob wants us, too," Steve agreed.
As if he'd heard his name, Jacob barrelled toward them at a run.
"Aunt Catherine! Uncle Steve! Did you see how high I was swinging?"
"Yeah, you were way up there, buddy," Steve said.
"Excuse me a moment," Joni said. "I'm going to check on this group over here." She motioned to a small gathering huddled by the building.
"Did you have fun today, Jacob?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah! That was so awesome! I loved the slime! And the Oobleck! And the lava lamps! And the flying saucer! And …"
Steve grinned. "I think it's safe to say all the activities were pretty awesome, huh?"
"Yeah!" Jacob agreed enthusiastically. "And you were both here so that made it the best!"
"We had a great time helping you and your classmates," Catherine said. "Just like always."
"And it's good practice, right?" Jacob said. "For when Angie is older?"
"Yeah, but you know that's not why we come, right, Jacob?" Steve asked. "We come because we like to be here with you and your friends."
Jacob beamed. "So you'll keep coming to my class, even when I'm in fourth grade?"
Catherine smiled warmly. "Even then."
"What about when I'm in fifth grade?"
"We'll keep coming as long as you want us to, buddy," Steve said, echoing what he'd said to Ms. Lane.
"Awesome!" Jacob exclaimed, trying to wrap his arms around both of them at once. "You wanna come see me on the monkey bars? I can do a flip!"
"Absolutely," Catherine said. "Lead the way."
He took off at a run and they followed behind, leisurely joining hands.
"You know I meant it earlier," Catherine said. "Commander Steve days really are the best. I love watching you with the kids."
He smiled. "I've gotten better at managing a group of them."
"Even when they ask a lot of personal questions?" she teased.
His smile grew. "I'm getting better at handling those, too."
She squeezed his hand.
"And speaking of personal questions, in honor of our first joint visit to Jacob's class," he said, reaching down into one of his cargo pockets. "Got you a little something."
He pulled out a bag of gummy bears and she laughed.
"Gummy bears, of course." She leaned up for a quick kiss and smiled. "I know just the people to share them with."
Hope you enjoyed!
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