Once again, the second graders in Ms. Hildebrand’s class at AE/MS learned the hard way that writing good, clear directions for a space alien to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not as easy as it seems. Here are the directions they came up with, in case you ever encounter an alien who’s looking for a snack.

1. You will need a knife, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, a napkin, a plate, and a loaf of bread.
2. Open everything – jelly jar, bread bag, and the peanut butter jar.
3. Take two pieces of bread out of the bag and lay them side by side on the plate or napkin.
4. Take a knife, and put it in the peanut butter jar. Scoop some of the peanut butter out with the knife. Be sure there is peanut butter on the knife.
5. Put the peanut butter on one piece of bread, and smooth it over the bread with the knife.
6. Do the same thing again if you want more peanut butter.
7. Go back to #4, #5, and #6 with the jelly on the other piece of bread.
8. Finally, put the two pieces of bread together, being sure that the peanut butter smooshes with the jelly in the middle. You do not want the peanut butter or the jelly on the outside of the sandwich.
9. Take the knife and cut the sandwich in ½ or ¼ with the knife.
10. Eat, and stay neat! Use your napkin!