The schoolhouse was small and had a large steeple atop it as though it was an old church that had been repurposed. Kazimir approached with the stack of papers and lessons plans in his hands. The pages were labeled and methodically prepared as he was scanning over them once more while walking.

The lessons all covered the topic of math. A weak point for him in his past. Coming from a clan with a single objective, various topics were left at a basic level. well, as long as I follow the plan I should be alright, he thought to himself.

Once at the steps of the school he could hear the ruckus behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the groups of children merrily marching their way down the dirt path to the school building.

The door opened and a teacher emerged with long brown hair and gentle eyes, “You must be the one taking over for Sandine today. Thank you for coming. Please follow me.”

“My pleasure,” replying as the teacher led him to a classroom towards the back. The school inside had been sectioned off into varying rooms and if it wasn’t for the outside you would never know this was any place other than a school.

“You’ll be in this classroom today. Everything you need should be there. Class starts in five minutes. See you later.”

Kazimir nodded politely, “Thank you. See you soon.” There were 20 desks in the classroom. A relatively manageable number of students. The blackboard was clean, and everything was orderly. Windows ran the length of one wall and showed the outside. A beautiful image of a few trees with apples hanging from them.

“I’ll need to get a jump on some things then." He began to write some math problems on the board keeping it fairly simple for them to practice together. Once the last problem was scribbled out, the tiny patter of feet entered the room.

“Good morning Mr!” The crowd of students all called out while finding their seats. They were a young group and seemed eager to learn.

“Morning kids. My name is Kazimir and I’ll be teaching you math today. Are you ready to learn?”

“Yes teacher,” the children replied with enthusiasm to meet a new person not yet knowing he was a mage.

Kazimir turned to the math problem on the board that read 1+2 and the next one 2+2, with no answers beside them. Before he could begin teaching, a hand was thrust swiftly into the air.

“Yes?” Kazimir asked the student who was fidgeting in their seat.

“What is your favorite thing here?”

Kazimir could tell that they were too interested in who he was for the class to begin so he had a change of mind. “Alright, let’s all go around the room and introduce ourselves and something that we like. I’m Kazimir and I like to learn new things and eat cereal all day.”

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Laughter filled the classroom at the mention of his odd habit. Before he continued, “I had one bowl this morning and one for lunch. Who can tell me how many that is?”

Three students stood up a and yelled out, “2!” while another yelled out “3!”

“I see,” he said to himself, “Please continue telling me about yourself." He listened while still pondering what his next move was going to be when it hit him. Today will be an unconventional learning day as he looked outside to see the apple trees.
The students finished the introductions, and Kazimir gathered them up,

“Alright, who wants to play a game outside?” The children responded by hastily leaping from their seats. “If you behave, I’ll show you a neat trick but we have to be quiet and calm okay.”

“Yes, teacher,” They all repeated back as he led them out to the area with the trees.
With a deep breath, he conjured a strong gust of wind. The children starred in amazement, “You’re a wizard!”

Kazimir only replied with a question and a smile, “This tree has twenty apples. What happens when I take down five apples?” He shot a gust of wind through the branches and knocked down five apples.

The children scrambled for them and shouted out the answer. For the rest of the period, they played that game and an addition game. He asked one person to bring him three apples and another to bring him five apples and add them together. In the end, they each got an apple to take with them to lunch time.

Kazimir sat by the school steps, waiting for them to finish. A small thud hit the ground behind him, and something gently nudged his back. An apple had rolled and hit him. “Sorry teacher,” a student said bashfully. “I thought you would want one.”
“Of course, I do. Thank you. Have a seat.” For the rest of the lunch he ate with a couple of the students and more and more trickled in around him and he played a soothing tune on his flute for them.

It wasn’t long before the school bell rang it was time to return to class. The students hurried back inside ready to learn now that they had a chance to play outside and eat.
The day went on more typical than before with division and multiplication. He once again wrote problems on the board. 4/2 and 10x4. Going around the class he asked them to give answers to the problems. Some of the students struggled, so he slowed down to make sure everyone was catching up.

He ended with a simple exercise he had a list of problems and the class was divided into two teams. They each sent one representative to the board at a time to see who could get the answer the fastest. Thus the math relay race began.

Finally, it was the end of the day and all things were wrapping up. The students left tired and ready to go home. As Kazimir left, he encountered the other teacher approaching with a bag that held his reward.

“Here you are. I hear that you did well. The children seemed happy, and it was nice for them to learn while outside.”
“Thank you,” he responded. “Although I will leave it to the professionals from now on.” They both smiled and Kazimir tightened his scarf and left the school building behind. It was nice to see the youth of Magnolia so excited about education.

word count 1098/1000