No shoes, no backback, no books- strange, indeed, on a school day

Oddity of the Month:
We are outside on a fire drill.
Skulk-boy takes a pencil out of his pocket and begins spearing dead leaves. He waits until he has a good bunch of them, then stands up and puts them in his pocket. I look at him, question marks replacing my pupils. He shrugs his shoulders and says, "What?" like I am an idiot for not knowing what he's doing.
Does anyone get it? I certainly don't understand. What in the world does he want with dead leaves? And why would he use a pencil rather than a hand to pick them up? Unless... maybe he's one of the Others....

In other news, apparently my secret blog location has been compromised. Students are freely accessing this vital information, so I guess I'll have to save the really good stuff for private conversations. Or until my students realize that grownups are really boring and go back to playing video games. James and Alex, if you are reading this, get off the computer and read a book. Or do homework... or something.

Currently playing: "Homage to the Suffering" Matthew Perryman Jones
Reading: Hoot by Carl Hiaasen