Write, Wrote, Written discussion

DISCLAIMER!
This is not my own work, nor do I have any claim to it.
This is a translation of Jacques Vriens' Meester Jaap.
I just did this for fun, and because they're apparently not translated into English (which I thought was a shame)

Mr Jake and his quirks.

“Tomorrow is World Animal Day.” says Mr Jake. “But I don’t want you to bring any cats, dogs, rabbits or any animal likewise to school.”
“Boo!” shouts the entire class.
“Nor any cows.” says Mr Jake.
Ralph raises his hand. “Why not, sir? Last year with miss Francine we were allowed to.”
“Yeah,” agrees Angelique. “I could even bring my chicken.”
Everyone starts yelling. “And I could bring my rat! My parrot! My goldfish!”
Mr Jake looks round at the class. “Listen,” he says. “I feel sorry for the animals. They’ll be locked in the classroom all day long.”
“Then you should feel sorry for us as well.” says Fatima.
Mr Jake nods. “I do feel sorry for you.”
“Come on, sir!” says Angelique.
“No. I won’t allow it. You can bring stuffed animals. That could be fun.”
During recess the entire class is huddled together, moping.
“It’s stupid!” says Benjamin.
“He’s being mean.” says Angelique.
“He’s not that bad.” Says Dean. “He’s super nice, just not at the moment.”
Most of the class nod in agreement. They’ve been in Mr Jake’s class for over a month now, and most of the kids really like him.
“He has his quirks.” says Ralph. “But that’s why he’s a teacher, isn't it?”
“But what about World Animal Day?” asks Fatima.
Instantly there’s a glimmer in Ralph’s eyes.
“I’ve got a plan.” He says. “He says animals likewise. Listen, what if we….”

The next day all the children walk into the classroom with a big grin on their face. They’ve all brought their stuffed animals, so the classroom is filled with worn bears, monkeys and bunnies.
“There you go!” Mr Jake says, as he shows his own stuffed bear. “This is Coby. He’s been living on my bed for all of his life.”
All children are then allowed to say something about their stuffed animal. When they’re done Ralph raises his hand.
“I have something else.” He opens his backpack and gets out a jar. There’s a big blow fly in it. “This is Fred. He’s been living in my room his entire life.” Ralph opens the jar, releasing the fly. “Now he can be free, because I think it’s sad he’s locked in my room all the time.”
Fred flies in a circle, and then leaves through the window. Mr Jake laughs. Then everyone opens his or her backpack, and get out more glass jars. Worms, spiders, snails, cockroaches and even ants appear. One after another the children start opening their jar.
“Wait a minute.” Mr Jake yells. “Not in here! That’s unfair. Everyone out!”
Cheering they all leave the classroom.
“To the woods!” Mr Jake orders.
The class marches to woods, and when they’re there they’re allowed to release the animals.
“And now,” Mr Jake says, “we play hide-and-seek. I’ll start.”
The children stare at him.
“I felt sorry for you.” Mr Jake explains. “I didn’t want you to be locked in a classroom on World Animal Day.”
And with loud roaring, mooing, barking, and laughing the children disappear into the woods.

Mr Jake and the toilet paper war.

“Today everyone will write a piece for the school’s newspaper.” Says Mr Jake.
“About what?” ask Angelique.
“Anything usual. I.e. you’ll write about your sport, or how your day was.”
Almost everyone starts immediately.
Ralph starts writing about his brother, and Angelique about her handball team. But Dean and Benjamin just sit at their desk, staring into nothingness.
“We don’t know what to write about.” Says Dean, when Mr Jake asks them why they’re not writing. Mr Jake grabs a notepad and a pencil.
“Here. You can walk around in school, and write down anything you see.
“Boring!” answers Benjamin.
“No, man! This could be fun!” Dean says, and he starts pulling Benjamin towards to hallway.

The hallways are empty, and the only thing Dean writes down is The teacher in first grade picks her nose.
Suddenly they notice Angelique heading to the restrooms.
“C’mon!” Benjamin whispers. “I’ve got an idea.”
They open the door of the boy’s stall and Benjamin stands on top of the toilet. He peeks over the wall into the girl’s stall, where Angelique just sat down. She starts screaming, and throws a roll of toilet paper towards Benjamin. It hits him straight in his face, making him loose is balance and his foot slips. It ends up in the toilet bowl.
“Shoot!” he yells.
“Creep!” screams Angelique.
Benjamin pulls his foot out of the toilet bowl and jumps off the toilet. Dean just stands there, laughing with tears in his eyes.
Then the door of the girl’s stall opens, and Angelique emerges. Her arms are filled with rolls of toilet paper. She starts throwing them at the guys, who run for their lives.
“It’s for the newspaper!” Dean yells.
“Mr Jake told us to!” adds Benjamin.
He catches a roll of toilet paper and throws it back at Angelique, starting a toilet paper war.
Angelique throws the rolls more accurate, because she’s plays handball.
All of a sudden Mr Jake is standing in the hallway, looking at the wreckage made of toilet paper. There is even some hanging from the lamp.
“End of this war!” yells Mr Jake.
“But… sir!”
“No 'but's. Clean up this mess, and get back into the classroom.”
When the hallway is cleaned up, the trio tell their story.
“As punishment you’ve got to write that piece for the paper” Mr Jake says.
“About what?” asks Dean innocently.
“Come on.” says Benjamin with glee.
A week later the new paper is released. Dean and Benjamin’s piece was the lead story.

 TOILET PAPER WAR

There was a war this afternoon.
Not with bullets, but with
toilet paper. Benjamin was
doing research for the school
paper. He accidentally entered
the bathroom, and accidentally
looked into the girl's stall.
Someone was in there. They got
angry, and threw a roll of toilet
paper. Benjamin slipped and got wet
feet! After that the game was on.
Toilet paper flew all around the
hallway. Until our Lord of the
United Jakees ended it.

Mr Jake makes a mystake

There is a fight in Mr Jake’s class. They have to sit in a circle and talk about it.
“Jason started it,” says Benjamin. “He put his bike in the racks and bumped into my bike, and now it’s broken.”
“You hit me!” yells Jason.
“You kicked me!” yells Benjamin in reply.
“Then there is a problem.” says Mr Jake as he looks round.
Louise raises her hand. “Sir, it was an accident. It wasn’t Jason’s fault.”
Benjamin’s face goes red. “An accident?” he yells as he shows his leg. “Look at the size of the bruise!”
Mr Jake nods. “Yes, I can see. You’re mortally wounded.”
Benjamin turns round on his chair, sitting with his back to the rest of the class.
“Can we talk about it?” ask Mr Jake.
“No!” sneers Benjamin.
“I’ve fixed your bike.” says Dean.
“You can’t fix my leg.” growls Benjamin.
Mr Jake starts laughing. “Benjamin, you realise Jason did it by accident. Sometimes you’ve got to own up to your mistakes, and you shouldn’t start fixing your problems with your fists.”
“Neither with your feet, Jason.” shouts Benjamin.
Jason nods. “I’m sorry.”
“Benjamin?” asks Mr Jake.
Benjamin shrugs. “Fine. I’m a little bit sorry.”
Mr Jake stands and motions everyone back to their seats.
“Get your textbooks in front of you. We’re going to practice the words for the test.”
After a little while everyone is writing down words.
Mr Jake writes some of the more difficult words on the board, and explains the definition. Then he writes in big letters:

PEACE CONVERENCE

“We just had a peace conference.” He explains.
Louise raises her hand. “Sir? You’ve made a mistake. Conference is with an F.”
“Ehh…” Mr Jake mumbles. “I… eh… did that to make sure you were paying attention.”
The class explodes into loud protest.
“Honest.” Mr Jake says, but his face turns scarlet, and he starts plucking his goatee.
“Sir,” says Dean. “Sometimes you’ve got to own up to your mistakes.”
The entire class starts laughing.
Then all of a sudden Mr Jake gets angry and yells: “Enough!”
The children stop laughing and look up at their teacher.
He sits down at his desk, rummages through some papers and sighs. “You’re right. I’m overreacting. I really made a mistake, but that’s because teachers don’t know everything. So sometimes you’ve got to help me. Thank you, Louise.” He walks over to the board and writes:

Sory thet I god madd!

Mr Jake and the marshmallow mystery

Marshmallows have gone missing out of Mr Jake’s classroom. In his desk drawer there is a big bag of them. Yesterday Dean and Louise got one because they’ve been ‘on’ for nearly two months. Mr Jake doesn’t know where the missing marshmallows have gone to, so he talks about it during circle. Nobody knows anything. During recess Ralph and Jason start an investigative service called ‘RalSon’. They walk around with a notepad and question all the students.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” says Benjamin. “It’s childish nonsense.”
Jason writes down Benjamin’s name. “If you think this is childish nonsense, you’re a suspect.”
“You’ve lost your marbles.” Benjamin says as he walks away.
‘RalSon’ continues with their investigation, and finds out that during recess there are students unsupervised in the classroom. 6th graders John and Frederic bring round coffee. Maggie from their own class takes her allergy medication, and Angelique and Eva are on plant duty this week. On Thursday Benjamin grabs the key out of Mr Jake’s desk. He and Dean then put the garbage cans out on the curb. Angelique and Eva are outraged that they’re suspects.
“We don’t even like those disgusting marshmallows!”
Maggie says that she can’t eat marshmallows. Ralph writes down: M. can’t eat mm. Allergies or something (possible!) Suspects E. and A. dislike mm. (don’t believe)
Both John and Frederic deny as well.
“Us? Stealing marshmallows? Get realistic. We’re having way too much fun delivering coffee. We don’t even know that there are marshmallows in Mr Jake’s drawer.”
Suspects J. and F. don’t know anything about mm. in drawer.
In the days following there are still marshmallows disappearing.
“Maybe you should lock your drawer.” says Miriam.
“I refuse.” says Mr Jake in reply. “If we can’t trust each other, I’d rather go home.”
Investigative service ‘RalSon’ decides to take drastic measures.
“We’ll hide in the big cupboard behind Mr Jake’s desk.” says Ralph.
When recess starts the two boys slip into the cupboard. The door is slightly ajar, and the boys wait. Jason reads over his notes one more time. Then he knows it. He whispers something into Ralph’s ear. They hear the door of the classroom open, and in a reflex Ralph pulls the cupboard shut. RalSon is locked in.
“Idiot.” whispers Jason
They can hear someone walk towards the desk, opening the drawer, and walk away again. After recess they bang on the door. With a surprised look opens Mr Jake the door.
“What’s this?”
“Investigative service ‘RalSon’!” says Ralph.
“We haven’t seen a thing, but we know who did it!” says Jason.
They explain what they found out.
“I’ll handle it.” says Mr Jake…

These are kinda entertaining! :)

I feel stupid, but who stole the marshmallows????

I feel like an idiot, but....?

(view spoiler)[John and Frederick say they don't know there are marshamallows in Mr Jake's drawer. By saying that, they admit to have been through Mr Jake's drawer. Therefore John and Frederick are the marshmallow thieves (hide spoiler)]

Mr Jake and April fool’s

“And that’s how the Romans got into our country.” says Mr Jake.
The entire class lets out the breath they were holding. Mr Jake has just finished a story he was telling for their history class.
“That was awesome, sir.” says George.
Mr Jake nods. “I think I deserve a cup of coffee. Would you and Miriam be so kind as to get me one?”
Together George and Miriam head to the teacher’s lounge.
“This is our chance!” says George, as he fills up Mr Jake’s mug.
“What do you mean?” ask Miriam.
“April Fool's!”
This morning they’ve tried a few jokes, but Mr Jake fell for none of them.
“I’ve known that one for years!” he yelled. “You really have to come up with something new.”
Suddenly Miriam gets a mischievous look in her eyes. She opens a cupboard, and grabs the salt-shaker. She unscrews the top, and empties it into Mr Jake’s mug. George adds milk, and stirs.
“Let’s go.” He says, grinning wide.
They’re laughing the entire way back to the classroom, but their faces are blank when they enter. The rest of the class is working on their history assignment. Mr Jake is walking around, helping where needed. Miriam sets the mug on Mr Jake’s desk; while George starts passing the message that the coffee is salted.
It doesn’t take long until the entire class knows. And then they wait. Mr Jake starts explaining about the central heating system in Roman villas. He heads to his desk, to take a sip of coffee, but just before he does he sets it back on the desk and writes something on the board. This repeats itself another 5 times, and the class hold their breath when it happens. Mr Jake’s eyes get a mischievous sparkle in them.
George nudges Miriam. “He knows.” he mutters.
“Hang on.” she replies, as she raises her hand.
“Yes, Miriam?” Mr Jake says.
“Sir, where did the children sleep in the Roman villas? And the babies?”
Mr Jake starts talking enthusiastically, and draws a blueprint.
“Did the mothers take care of the babies themselves?” asks Miriam.
George realises what she’s up to, and adds: “They were probably really busy, just like your wife Eileen!”
Mr Jake nods and starts talking even more enthusiastic.
“Exactly, because a new-born baby is a lot of work. Our little Fae is only three months old, and sometimes during the night her tummy hurts. That’s why Eileen and I don’t sleep a lot. But during the day, when she laughs with those eyes…”
Then it happens. Mr Jake has started talking about his little girl, and forgets everything around him. He picks up his mug, and takes a big gulp.
“Gross!” he yells, as he spits out everything.
“April fool's!” the class yells, laughing.
He runs to the sink, and starts hoarding water. The class can’t stop laughing, and after a while Mr Jake starts laughing too. Just a little bit salty...

Mr Jake tells a story

"In only a few weeks," says Mr Jake "most of you will be going to sixth grade."
"Booh!" yells Miriam. "I want to stay with you!"
"Well, I don't." says Anthony. "That means I'd be held back, and I don't want that."
Some kids nod in agreement.
"Who's teaching sixth grade next year?" asks George.
"Ms Wilma."
"Awesome!" yells Ibrahim. "she's a really nice teacher."
"But she can be really strict." says Anthony.
"Sometimes you have to be." explains Mr Jake. "toughens you up a bit."
Matthew raises his finger.
"Sir, you just said something weird."
"What did I say, Matthew?"
"You said 'most of you will be going to sixth grade.' Who won't be going?"
Suddenly the entire class goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop. They look at each other, and then all of a sudden they hear soft crying. Mr Jake starts plucking at his beard when the class realises that little Ellen is the one crying.
"I'm so sorry." Mr Jake says, as he walks over to Ellen to give her a hug. "We'd agreed I wouldn't say anything. But now that the word is out, shall I explain it to the class?"
Ellen nods, her eyes red and puffy.
Mr Jake walks back to the front of the class, and starts plucking at his beard again.
"Sometimes it's better for someone to redo a year. That is why Ellen won't be going with you to Ms Wilma's class, she'll be stay with me."
"Ellen is to stupid for sixth grade!" says Anthony a bit too loud.
"Jerk!" shouts John. "It's not the worst thing in the world. I had to redo second grade!"
That's when everyone starts shouting and Mr Jake has to hit the blackboard with his fist before it settles down again.
"I'm going tell you a story." he says. "Once upon a time there was a bush, on which grew beautiful roses each year. That's because the gardener takes really good care of the bush. He gave her water and good soil, and the bush grew bigger and more beautiful each year. That is, until one year it didn't. The gardener didn't understand, and asked the bush. She replied: I've been working hard all these years, and it's going a bit fast. But keep taking care of me, and you'll see: next year I'll bloom again."
When Mr Jake is done, nobody speaks.
After a while Souhaila sighs. "That's so romantic..."
"Is Ellen the bush, sir?" asks John.
Mr Jake nods. "That's correct, John. And just because you redo a year, doesn't mean you're dumb, you just need more time. After that you'll turn out just fine."
"Like I did!" yells John.
"Yeah, but you're not a rosebush." says Matthew. "You're more like kale."
John roars in laughter and soon the entire class joins in. Even little Ellen.

Mr Jake becomes Rm Ekaj

Lisa-Ann is giving a presentation about 'The Cat'. She's standing in front of the class, and says: "The cat is part of the feline family, together with lions and tigers."

On the blackboard she writes The tac is pard of the felion femily.
Immediately the class becomes unruly, but Mr Jake motions them to quiet down. Lisa-Ann continuous to say that cats are meat eaters, but also like fish. She writes The tac osla eats shif

"What kind of shif eats the tac osla?" asks Rose.

Lisa-Ann stares at her, and the entire class laughs.

"You wrote tac instead of cat!" yells Jasin.

"She messes up everything!" laughs Louise.

"Idiot!" shouts Quinton.

Lisa-Ann starts to cry. Mr Jake walks over to the blackboard, and writes I ma yllaer dam ta uoy

Slowly the class quiets down, and Cornelius says: "He's really mad at us."

"How do you know that?" asks Hazel.

"Says it, on the blackboard."

Suddenly the class realises that Mr Jake wrote everything backwards. Mr Jake wraps his arm around Lisa-Ann's shoulders.

"Listen," he says. "Lisa-Ann has a little anomaly, and as I always say: everyone has..."

"... the right of their own anomaly." choruses the class.

"Right." replies Mr Jake." Lisa-Ann has word-blindness. And with a big word it's called dyslexia. Imagine you have two wires in your head. If they are connected the wrong way you mix up words and letters. And sometimes you don't know how to write something. It's not your fault you make mistakes."

Hazel raises her finger. "Is Lisa-Ann going to be better?"

"If you work really hard, it goes better and better." answers Mr Jake. "But its always hard, and it doesn't get easier when other children laugh at you."

"I'm sorry, Lisa-Ann." says Quinton.

"And," says Mr Jake "writing backwards isn't that easy. Try pronouncing your name backwards."

"I'd be Esiuol." says Louise

"And I'm Esor!" laughs Rose. Dominique has some trouble with her name, so Mr Jake writes Euqinimod on the blackboard. And for Aysel he writes Lesya. Now everyone changes their name. Jasin becomes Nisaj, and Hazel becomes Lezah. Leander becomes Rednael, and Ryker says: "My name is Rekyr, and I'm in a Riahcleehw."

"And I am Rm Ekaj." say Mr Jake

Cornelius raises his hand. "Sir, my name is Suilenroc and I'd like to give a presentation about a God."

Everybody laughs, even Lisa-Ann. Cornelius looks around self-satisfied and says. "And that God says woof."

"Not really," says Mr Jake. "That God says foow."

When everybody is done laughing Lisa-Ann is allowed to continue her presentation.

"I'll write it on the board for you." says Mr Jake.

When Lisa-Ann is done, Myrtle and Rose are allowed to give a grade.

"I give a Net." says Rose.

"Em oot!" says Myrtle.

Mr Jake wants to be part of a group

"You've been with me for nearly six weeks." says Mr Jake. "It's time to make permanent work groups. There are 28 of us, so that makes seven groups of four."

The entire class cheers.
"I want to sit with Eva!" yells Angelique.
"Me too!" shouts Miriam.
"No," says Angelique. "I don't want to sit with Miriam."
Mr Jake gives her 'the look'.
"I've got an idea." he says. "You've got ten minutes to make the groups. If there's no fighting, you'll all get a marshmallow."
"Three cheers for Mr Jake!" yells Ralph.
In Mr Jake's drawer there is a very big bag of marshmallows. You can earn one for the weirdest reasons. Least amount of mistakes on a test, or the most. For being the neatest person in the class, or the biggest slob. And now for 'making groups without a fuss'. Everyone starts walking around. Ralph, Jason, Dean and Benjamin agree and head over to Mr Jake and say: "This is our group."
Mr Jake frowns. "Dean and Benjamin, in one group? That'll be more chatty and less working."
"Please?" begs Benjamin. "We'll do our best!"
"Jason and I will keep them in check, sir!" adds Ralph.
"Like that'll do any good." says Mr Jake.
"And we'll keep Jason and Ralph in check." grins Dean.
Mr Jake smiles.
"All right, you'll get a 14 days trial."
Meanwhile most of the class is done.
"We want a group of two." say Eva and Angelique.
"That's going to be a problem." says Mr Jake.
Then he notices Miriam crying softly in a corner.
"Can we move the desks, sir?" asks Dean.
"No." says Mr Jake. "We're not moving anything until everyone has a place."
The class continues to deliberate, until a loud cry make all of them look up. Mr Jake is hanging over his desk, crying. "Nobody wants to sit with me!" he moans.
Angelique nudges Eva. "How 'bout we sit with him?"
Eva doesn't hesitate. When you sit with Mr Jake, you'll see your grades first. And when you don't understand something you can ask it immediately. And you're really close to the marshmallows.
"Me and Eva will sit with you!" yells Angelique.
"Great." says Mr Jake. "but Miriam will sit with us as well, otherwise the group will be to small. Let's rearrange!"
With a glower on their faces Angelique and Eva push their desks towards Mr Jake's. Hesitantely Miriam joins them, as Mr Jake produces his bag of marhsmallows. The three girls get two.
"Here," he says. "an extra one because I'm glad you're willing to sit with me."
Eva and Miriam start to laugh. Angelique just stuffs the marshmallows in her mouth, but then she cracks a smile as well.

Mr Jake and Secret Santa
"When will we be drawing names for secret Santa?" asks Ralph.
Mr Jake plucks his beard.
"I'd like to hold off on that, just for a little while longer." he says.
"Why?" asks Angelique.
"If we draw names now, everyone will know who has who on December 5th."
Everyone starts protesting. Ralph raises his hand again. "C'mon, sir! We're 5th graders! We can keep it a secret."
Mr Jake things about this, but eventually says: "OK, but I cancel everything the moment I notice somebody hasn't kept the secret."
Everyone starts writing their name on a piece of paper. They can also add a small wish-list, and what they like to do.
"It'll make buying a present easier." says Mr Jake.
He writes his name on a piece of paper as well, and collects all the papers in a box. Then Fatima goes round with the box, and everyone grabs a piece of paper at random.
Dean opens his note, and swears a bit too loud. Mr Jake gives him a look, and says to the class: "No comments."
Miriam is one of the last to get a note, and as she opens it, she yells: "Stop! I've got myself!"
"Great," says Eva. "because I don't want you."
"No comments!" says Mr Jake again. "Or everything gets cancelled."
Miriam puts her note back into the box, and grabs a new one. There is now only one note left.
"That'll be mine." says Mr Jake.
He opens his note, and nods. Ralph starts laughing, and whispers something to Benjamin. Benjamin walks over to Eva, and relays the message. In no time the entire class knows the message and starts laughing. Mr Jake looks around confused.
"What's wrong?"
The class laughs even louder, as Ralph says: "We know who you've got."
"Impossible! I haven't said anything."
"Cancelled because of Mr Jake." says Angelique.
"Whose name is on my note?" asks Mr Jake
"MIRIAM!" yells the class in unison.
Then Mr Jake makes the connection. Miriam had her own note, and switched it with the only one left in the box.
"We'll try again tomorrow." sighs Mr Jake.
"NOW!" yells the class.
The box goes round, and everyone gets a new note. When Mr Jake opens his note, he starts laughing.
"Miriam again?" asks Fatima.
Mr Jake shakes his head, but doesn't say anything. He's got himself.

December 5th is when Dutch kids, mostly in 5th and/or 6th grade will do a secret Santa. This is because the school celebrates Sinterklaas (St. Niklaus' Day) on that day. Sinterklaas will visit the school, handing out presents in the lower grades.
The secret Santa gifts are always inside a 'surprise'. This is basically an artwork container that represents i.e. a sport that someone does, or something that the receiver likes to do.

Mr Jake becomes a grandma

It's Monday morning, and everyone is sitting in a circle. Usually they're chatting among each other until Mr Jake starts the day, but now everyone is watching Fatima. Because she's wearing a hijab, and she wasn't wearing one on Friday. Fatima has gone completely red, and is staring at the floor. Benjamin and Dean are chuckling. Madelaine puts her arm around Fatima as she glares at the boys.
"Stop acting like idiots!" she says.
"I agree." says Mr Jake. "Fatima, maybe we have to explain why you're wearing a hijab. Then they'll understand."
Then Fatima starts crying, and runs out of the classroom. Madelaine runs after her, as Dean and Benjamin laugh louder.
"ENOUGH!" roars Mr Jake. "What's so funny?"
Benjamin and Dean immediately stop laughing.
Then Benjamin says softly: "Fatima is now another Turkish with a rag on her head."
"First of all," says Mr Jake. "Fatima is Moroccan. Secondly, it's part of her religion. When Moroccan girls get older, they start wearing hijabs."
Angelique raises her hand.
"I think it's weird. Fatima's been in our class for so long. I'd forgotten she was Moroccan.
"And that's the way we like it." says Mr Jake.
He looks at Dean.
"And sometimes when boys grow up," he says. "they start wearing a ponytail."
"But that's not part of my religion." counters Dean.
"But it's a part of you." explains Mr Jake. "which makes it kind of a religion. You says you have to wear it."
"True enough." says Dean.
Mr Jake gets up, and walks over to a cupboard in the corner. He opens it and gets out an old-fashioned hat. He puts it on, and turns towards the class. Everyone starts laughing: he looks like a grandma.
"Today we'll all wear something on our head." he says. "Go grab something!"
The class runs towards the cupboard, and start pulling things out.
Meanwhile Mr Jake walks into the hallway. He crouches where Fatima and Madelaine are sitting.
"I've explained it a bit." says Mr Jake. "and I think they'll understand it better now. Come on."
When Fatima enters the classroom, she giggles. Everyone is wearing something on their head. Hats, caps, scarves, it's all there. Jason couldn't find anything, so he put a cardboard box on his head. And Eva is wearing a plastic bag.
"Now," says Mr Jake. "we'll keep wearing this for now. Now everyone back to your desks, and open your maths book on page 35."
That lesson no one can keep a straight face. Especially when watching Mr Jake. He's explaining fractions, with a really serious look on his face, but he's wearing that ridiculous hat.
In the days following nothing changes much. People still wear things on their heads, and even though they change the thing they wear every day, they get used to it. Just like Fatima's hijab.

Mr. Jake gets a kiss

The last day of school has arrived. After they clean the classroom together everyone starts emptying out their desk.
"Can I get three trash cans?" asks John.
Mr Jake turns around in surprise to see all the things that come out of John's desk.
"A dictionary!" says Mr Jake. "This has been missing for weeks."
Souhaila and Bert walk around collecting maths books, while Vera and Miriam collect the geography books. Halil's book is close to falling apart.
"Put it somewhere in the middle of the pile." he whispers to Vera. "I'll be in trouble if Mr. Jake sees that."
But Vera has other ideas. "Sir? What should I do with this one?" she yells.
Halil jumps up and grabs his textbook out of Vera's hands. He hits her over the head with it, and pages spew everywhere. Vera is about to hit Halil back when Mr. Jake steps between them.
"That's enough. This is supposed to be a happy day. Vera, you shouldn't snitch and Halil shouldn't get so angry."
"But what about the book?" Halil asks hesitantly.
"The books are ancient. I'll get new ones next year."
Halil sighs with relieve.
"And now," says Mr Jake "It's time for our fare well party."
He walks over to his desk, and retrieves the bag of marshmallows from the drawer. Everyone pulls up a chair, and as they sit in a circle they recollect memories. The time Mr Jake showed up in a leather jacket and chains. And how Matthew and Halil caught the 2nd grader using the 5th grade bathrooms.
"And that time Mr. Jake tried to explain where babies come from!" yells George.
Miriam thinks the GDS, the club for kids with divorced parents is the best thing they did last year.
"And the chicken!" says Anthony. "That was cool too."
And when Robyn starts singing "Mr. Jake is the best" the entire class joins in, because they all remember the football match. When they're done, they all become quiet. It's almost time to go.
"I'm secretly a bit jealous, Ellen." sighs Ibrahim. "You get to stay for another year."
Mr. Jake smiles and says: "Ms Wilma is a really nice teacher, and really good at arts."
Everyone nodds. Mr. Jake starts fumbling with his beard. "You were a great class. I'm a bit jealous of Wilma. Luckily I get to keep Ellen for another year. "
In the hallway the bell rings, but nobody moves.
"It's time." says the teacher.
Stephanie gets up, and walks over to him, and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, sir." she says.
That's the signal for everyone else, and they all head over to Mr. Jake's. Some give him a kiss on the cheek, others a handshake. And when all the kids have left, he has to fight back some tears. "You were really a class to love."
Then the door opens. Ellen's head pops around the door, and she smiles as she says: "Bye Mr. Jake, see you next year!"