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As the bell chimed for milk break, elementary students dashed to the courtyard for a quick snack before darting off to the playground. Curiously, they bypassed the swings and the slides, dispersing into various nooks along the edge of the play yard, nestled near the woods.

Students quickly got to work sweeping the debris that fell overnight with their homemade pine needle brooms, flipping closed signs to “open”, updating menus with today’s specials, and mixing dirt with their collected rainwater to make today’s chocolate-infused creations. “Welcome to the Chocolate Factory”, the hostess said, handing me a menu before leading me to my milk carton table.

Before I could take my seat on the rock, a waiter was already standing over me, beaming with excitement and ready to read me today’s specials. As soon as I said “I will have a KitKat and two specials, please” two other Chocolate Factory employees started breaking up large clumps of dirt, adding water, and using a big stick to mix it all together. While I waited for my food, I took a full tour of the busy factory. There were plates, forks, and a remote-controlled fire pit starter crafted from tree bark, property boundaries meticulously marked by lines of rocks, homemade laptops serving as the factory's POS ordering systems, convenient take-out windows, and a charming fairy garden. The largest structure in the factory was a lean-to that could comfortably sleep about five elementary students, adjacent to the monkey bars. Its base was made with sticks and was covered in packed leaves and it was complete with a retractable window and was getting fitted for a new doorbell. 

Creativity abounds at the EMS and elementary students have transformed the landscape of the whole campus, from Swanson Field to the playground. It is so fun to watch our students use their imaginations and become entrenched in their imaginative worlds for the duration of milkbreak every day. There's a refreshing joy in witnessing children play with dirt under their nails, where the only trace of technology around is the frozen “Google” search engine screen on the handmade wooden laptop.