Jelly

Each morning, I write all my kids' names on the board. This is where we keep track of happy faces and other little things. On this particular day, writing 12 names took nearly 20 minutes.
Before I reached her row, Ann informed me that she was no longer Ann.
"My name is Annie." So I added 'Annie' to the list. Not surprisingly, more kids suddenly needed different names.
"Teachaaar!" Henry shouted. "I'm Hengry!!" He couldn't decide whether it meant he was hungry or angry, but he cracked himself up either way. Andy (the original name-shifter) chose to be Candy. Most recently, he'd been Qandy. Annabelle became Anne, and Ellizabeth decided to be Annabelle. Jini turned into Aini, and Justin became Iron Man.  
Peter insisted on being Hakinman. Either it's something Korean or he didn't know how to spell Heineken Man. Maro decided on Karo, and Kelly chose Jelly. JunSeo and Jaden kept their real names and just enjoyed the show. 


Next day: As I started to write names on the board, a chorus of loud six-year olds reminded me of the new names I was to write. I didn't get very far, though, before a wistful Kelly raised her hand. 


"Teacher, I don't want to be Jelly anymore," she somberly stated. So I wrote 'Kelly' on the board and welcomed her to class. "It's nice to have you back!"


You can guess what happened after that; all but two students eagerly returned to their real names. Only Candy and Hakinman are still among us. 

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