Coffee on the Sofa

Above can be seen an example of the reward I give to my students if they are good.

They love them.

I give the challenge that whomever finishes first gets a candy.

The universal cry whenever I announce "wordsearch!" is "Teams TEECHUR?" which means they form groups with their friends so that they can crib from each and finish faster.

It engenders companionship and discourages bullying.

I often race the older classes myself. The smarter ones finish before me at times!

The second popular shout is "HINT TEECHUR!" which usually means I write the words on the board with arrows to indicate which way the word should be read.

I would just as often refrain from this in favor of touring the classroom drawing the arrows on their sheets.

Sometimes when they ask for a hint to a specific word, I locate it and just dot one letter in it on their paper.

HOWEVER, during "team time", I get really mischievous to a fault.

Picture this: the teams often straddle two rows of desks. That is, the guys (or gals) in the front row, have to turn backwards to crib from friends behind them.

When I spot this, I put my finger to my lips to the class ("shush"), I tiptoe up to the desk in full cartoon style (upon which a half-filled puzzle rests), and, in full view of everyone but my victim, with exaggerated gestures, I swap his half-full sheet for an empty one.

I tiptoe back to my perch at the front of the class, lean on my lectern, and with most of the class now snickering (especially the girls), I watch my victim.

He turns back to his puzzle, and is astonished to find a new grid, all of the words he has found - GONE.

He looks up at me, sees my smirk and wails "TEA - CHAIR !!!".

All the kids have been watching, and the laughter is infectious.

I walk over to his desk, his stolen sheet in my hand, pat him on the head, and hand it back.