Every December, my juggling troupe of middle school students does a special chapel service for our elementary school students. This week we did this annual gig, and it will undoubtedly be one of our most talked about shows of the year.
The hero of the show was Jaclyn, whose grandfather had died unexpectedly less than 24 hours earlier. She wanted to come to school and do the show to keep her mind occupied, and she was terrific. She is my second student to learn to juggle machetes this year, and she was flawless. She also had to fill in for Judah, who was absent. Judah is the student who plays Jesus in our final two skits, and, being short on boys as a class, I called on JK to take his spot. For not having rehearsed the part, she was very effect in the role.
Rose, my daughter who is also a student in my class, did something I've never seen before: she slowly lowered herself into a split while juggling three machetes! She is an excellent juggler and all around performer, and I am glad she'll continue to work with me in our family show after she leaves middle school.
Of course, being a Christmas show, we adapted our routines a bit. Instead of a juggling routine done to Stephen Curtis Chapman's 'Dive", we did it to a version of 'Jingle Bells'; We did the mime routine we usually perform to 'I Want to Know What Love Is' to Wham's "Last Christmas". This made it a funnier routine, and Zeb was hysterical. The kids also sang an original song entitles "The 12 Days of Middle School". It goes as follows:
On the first day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
A project due in a month.
On the second day on middle school, my teachers gave to me
(GRACE S.) Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the third day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(JK) Three sharp machetes
Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the fourth day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(ZEB) Four homework slips,
Three sharp machetes
Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the fifth day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(EMILY) Five ugly boys,
Four homework slips,
Three sharp machetes
It wasn’t my fault; he’s always picking on me.
And a project due in a month.
On the sixth day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(EMILEE) Six roasted crickets,
Five ugly boys,
Maybe it’s in my backpack
Three sharp machetes
Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the seventh day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(ADAM) Seven irregular verbs,
Six roasted crickets,
Five ugly boys,
Four homework slips,
Watch me (JK juggles)
Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the eighth day of middle school, my teachers gave to me
(ABBY.)Eight story problems,
Seven irregular verbs,
Six roasted crickets,
Five ugly boys,
Four homework slips,
Three sharp machetes
Two paper clips,
I’ll wait til the night before it’s due.
On the ninth day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(MOLLY) Nine corny jokes,
Eight story problems,
Seven irregular verbs,
Six roasted crickets,
I hope Chevrus boys are cuter than them!
Four homework slips,
Three sharp machetes
Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the tenth day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(ROSE) Ten coffees spilling
Nine corny jokes,
I don’t get how to do this!
Seven irregular verbs,
Six roasted crickets,
Five ugly boys
Four homework slips,
Three sharp machetes
Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the eleventh day of middle school, my teachers gave to me,
(SEBASTIEN) Eleven girls so pretty
Ten coffees spilling
Nine corny jokes,
Eight story problems,
Seven irregular verbs,
They’re delicious, but the legs tickle on the way down.
Five ugly boys
Four homework slips,
Three sharp machetes
Two paper clips,
And a project due in a month.
On the twelfth day of middle school, our students gave to us,
Twelve migraine headaches
Eleven girls a giggling
Ten nervous breakdowns
Nine scary nightmares
Eight pointless questions
Seven stomach ulcers
Six eyes a rolling
Five fruits from Zeb
Four lame excuses
Three severed fingers
Two girls named Abby…. And Grace… and Emily
And a girl named “Sassy-pants”