Dream: Schools and Orphanages

I had some bizarre dreams earlier this week.  The first one started in a house somewhere.  A man appeared and he was huge.  He was wearing a plaid shirt and he had really long arms and huge hands, as if I was the size of a toddler.  He picked me up and put me in this white room.  It was a very big room and the ceiling floors and walls were all bright white, almost like they were made out of light.

Inside the room there were lots of people standing around.  Some people were making a play for entertainment, other people were just talking.  The man would speak periodically over the intercom and talk to the people in the room.

I decided to escape and I found a door at the side of the room.  I went through it and I was in a stairwell.  The floor was gray and green checkerboard, like the floor of a school.  I climbed the stairs and found a group of school girls in uniform walking down a hallway.  They didn't notice me, but I heard them talking.  It was their teacher's last night.  She was going to go away forever because she was going to be killed.  The girls seemed kind of sad and worried.

I went downstairs and there was a girl who was standing at a piano doing something at the bottom of the stairwell.  I laid down flat against the stairs and hoped that she wouldn't be able to see me.  While my eyes were squeezed shut, I felt her slam a knife against my throat and threaten to kill me.  I was terrified, but I got away.

Later in the week...

I had a dream I was a child and with a bunch of children in a daycare or school.  There was not enough food and they were all trying to share what they had.  They were alone and they were locked in the room. 

Later...

I had a dream that I was in an orphanage with a bunch of other kids.  I decided to escape so I grabbed a bundle of cloth (I'm assuming clothes, but maybe blankets) and ran out the door.  As I took off down the street I was stopped by a man dressed in black with a big gun.  He pointed it at me and said he was going to shoot me if I didn't go back.  Then someone from the orphanage was behind me and they took me back.

So, why so many dreams about schools and orphanages?  This has been a recurring theme lately.  Very strange.