Dear Parents, Please check your child's backpack before sending them to school!

One of the great things about being an elementary teacher is that you never know what will happen on any given day. Today I was reminded about some of the interesting things that kids bring to school. Most all kids sneak things like trading cards, toy cars, stickers, etc. into their backpacks but recently I have had some kids bringing some unusual items.

Today I kept seeing some kids passing around a large silver coin. When I finally asked to see it, I discovered that it was a dollar silver coin from the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, which happens to be where we are staing in Vegas this summer! I asked the kid if I could have it because I was going to go there before he would but he wasn't giving it up.

Also today, the little boy in my class that says he has alligators in his bathtub at home brought a "wallet" to school. It was clearly an old wallet from a family member of his because there were still things in it. One thing was a super cheesy picture of the kid and some other family photos. He also had some random business cards in there. So I decided to check them out to make sure they were "appropriate" for school. One business card was from an attorney. On the back there were some notes written including a court date and time and a reminder to bring the "arrest record". I wonder if the owner of the wallet knows his kid is showing this around school. My guess is no.

Some other funny things over the years have been a halloween costume under the uniform in February, firecrackers, inappropriate family photos, and most shockingly, some girl on girl pictures from a dirty magazine. All this to say, parents, please be sure you check your child's backpack before sending them to school. You never know what is in there!