Sneak attack!

I took photos of my sneaky sixth graders and their art today. We started off pretty poorly with one of the boys cutting in front of one of the girls. When the girl told me, he kicked her. I ordered him to sit down and he tore his drawing in half. I was disappointed and almost stopped taking photos all together - I'm glad that I didn't. I think that only here, can this happen. It's not the first time it's happened in rural China, but it is the first time for me. 

Take a look at this picture.

At first glance, you might see the smirk on his face. You might look at his drawing and wonder... whaaaaaaaa? But then take a closer look. 

Is that?

Noooo. 

Yes. If you haven't seen it, look at his left shoulder - his left, our right. 

Is that a braid?

It's a bird. 

Like all the other students in class, he stood in front of the blackboard, put his drawing in front of him, but unlike the other students - he pulled what looked like a stuffed animal out of his pocket and put it on his neck.  He positioned it and smiled, then walked back to his desk - no problem.

It's a baby black birdee on his shoulder! After class, I told him to come to the front of the room and show me the contents of his pocket.

He put this on my table. Hi, cutie - stay a while! I asked my student where he got this little creature - he shrugged, nonchalantly saying that he found it on the way to school - I think it's sweet that he's been taking care of this chickadee for the past four days!