Twenty Minutes Past Breakfast

The Background: I work at an "at risk" school. Breakfast and lunch are 100% free. Our entire school eats breakfast together every morning at the same time. This morning we had Total cereal, orange juice and 1% milk. Mini pancakes were available, but there was no syrup or butter (sugar and fat have been cut from the menus) so very few kids ate them. The Story: I put a couple of Air Wick Fresh-Matic air fresheners in my classroom over the weekend. I set them to spray every twenty minutes. This morning my reading class came in and settled around my chair. I opened a book and began to read aloud. The air freshener sprayed and suddenly the air was filled with the scent of papayas and mangos. My students inhaled as a group, exhaled on a sigh, and four of them said in unison, "Now I'm hungry!" The rest agreed. I calmed them and went back to reading the story -- about hungry mice who were trying to steal fresh vegetables from a cat-guarded garden. Rudy said, "My breakfast wore off!" Issaic agreed, "Yeah, even vegetables sound good."