Last Breath

Oh, blog readers, I'm sorry...I've done a yucky job of posting every day. School is busier at the end (as we all know) and that makes it more difficult.

However, here's a story for you today. I have this little girl in my room who has theories on EVERYTHING. We'll call her "Kid 1" and the other student "Kid 2." Here's the conversation that happened yesterday that (I think) kind of took her by surprise:

Kid 1: My mom is gone until tomorrow because my grandpa took his last breath today.

Kid 2: Oh no! Did he die?

Kid 1: I don't really know.


This was just funny to me because I don't think she was expecting anyone to ask her what that meant therefore she didn't bother to find out and when Kid 2 asked, it threw her! So cute.

Nebraska

One of my students (we'll call him F) lived in Nebraska before coming to Indiana. Today we were working on a map project about parts of the United States and were talking about the Midwest. This particular student was working with another little guy who came up to me and thus began the discussion:

K: "F says since he used to live in Nebraska he can speak their language really good."

Me: "You know they speak English there, right, K?"

K and I both look at F at the same time to witness the biggest smile on F's face...what a stinker!

Nevada

One of my students may be moving to Nevada. Here's our conversation about that from earlier today:

O: "You know, my dad may get a job in Nevada. I would like to live there because I would like to wake up with mountains, play in the mountains, look outside and see mountains, and eat lunch in the mountains. But I was wondering...what language do you have to speak in Nevada?"

Me: "Honey, don't worry, they speak English just like us."

O: "Oh, good."

Jamestown

We're doing a project right now in my first-grade class for the kids to learn about some places in Indiana that are significant to them. They're transferring things from a regular map like Indianapolis (one boy called it "Indiana-napolis," which is pretty good for reading it independently!), some local lakes, some cities, and a few rivers to their own maps.


One of my boys noticed the town of Jamestown, Indiana, and said,

"There is a town called Jamestown on this map. I think that must be where James from the other class lives because it is called JAMEStown. Do you get that? JAMES-town, like a town with James."


Got it.

Silly Gas

This is me at age seven. I just think it's funny to look at myself when I was the age of my students.



If I haven't said it before, I have a favorite student...I can't help it...I'm human! Lots of my posts are from him. This particular post is about a time he was filling me in on his upcoming dental visit:


"My tooth has been hurting so the dentist is going to have to put me to sleep. If that doesn't work, he's going to spray silly gas on my nose to make me laugh."


I asked him if he was sure it was "silly" gas and not laughing gas, but no, no, no, it was "silly" gas. There was no convincing him.

Kids are more work

I've been married for two and a half years now, and I've had to have the "having-a-kid conversation" with many people (right, Mom?). However, I didn't think this would be a conversation I would have with a seven-year-old this morning...or ever. Mind you, I had been awake for about an hour and managed to be at school for an early meeting when this conversation occurred:


M: "Is this a picture of your kids?"

Me: "No, I don't have kids. Just dogs."

M: "You're married, right?"

Me: "Yep."

M: "And you don't have kids? Is that because they're a lot of work?"

Me: "Yep."


She must hear that at home...

;o)

God

One of my first graders last year pondered the following:


"Did you know that God can count to infinity? I don't really know how he learned, though, because I don't think he went to college. And you know what I don't understand? How God had a baby without a wife!"


I don't remember saying anything to that but "Uh huh..."

Leprosy

One of my kids said to me one day:

"I need to go to the nurse because I think I have a disease called leprosy. See, look at my foot! It's very red and itchy, and that is DEFINITELY leprosy."


Despite her convincing argument that she had this commonly Biblical disease, I didn't send her to the nurse, and somehow, she survived!

This Is Not the One I REALLY Wanted To Post Today

The story I really want to post today I told to one of my colleagues and she wisely said (as she always does), "That might not be a good one for your blog, although it is REALLY funny!"

So if you teach with me and you need a good laugh, come to room 103 and I'll tell you a story.

Here's my second-place story; definitely worth posting, but not the one I REALLY wanted to post.


At our school, our kids work through individual math programs that are supported through software that allows them to work on their own levels. The things you need to pull from this are twofold:

1) The software is PACKED with cartoons and sketches, not real pictures.

2) Once my kids complete all of their first grade software, they move into second grade software, which is also cartoon drawings as opposed to photographs.


I checked in with one of my kids today while he worked in the second grade software program and said, "How are you doing?"

He said, "Well, I just don't understand why the pictures in this second grade part are fake."

I was seriously stumped, so I had to say, "What???"

He elaborated: "You know, these pictures are FAKE. They're cartoons, not real stuff. I thought everything in second grade would be real because second graders don't like cartoons."

I continue in this deep conversation, "Why do you think that?"

His answer: "They just don't! They're older, so they only like to look at REAL pictures."


Wow, this kid's going to be in for a real shock next year when he finds out he won't be getting his driver's license or anything either! Hmmm, maybe second graders aren't so grown up after all!

Poop

My friends Scott and Deanna told this story tonight at our small group for church. It's short, sweet, and pretty funny!

So apparently their four-year-old son Aaron asked Scott if he could poop outside like their dog, Ollie.

Scott said the best thing he could think of was to say, "No, Aaron, people don't poop outside."


I just love a good poop story...mainly because poop is such a funny word! Maybe that's why I teach first grade...

;o)

Rectangular Prisons

I wanted to get a feel for whether or not my first graders had good perception and problem-solving skills, so today I handed them a box of three-dimensional shapes, some toothpicks, a few marshmallows, and said, "Make some shapes with what you have."

Amazingly, some of them even made spheres!

We were reviewing the names of the shapes and I realized we'd never really talked about rectangular prisms. So I said, "Say that with me: rectangular prism."

I held up the rectangular prism and asked, "What's this called again?"

The answer: "RECTANGULAR PRISON!"


Okay, don't go home and tell your parents we made prisons at school today.

Oh boy...

Egg Drop

We do lots of hands-on science projects in first-grade. Today we finished up our Egg Drop project: the kids had to design a parachute to keep their raw egg from breaking when dropped from 10 or 15 feet. They're so good; they've learned not to ask, "But how do I do that?" or pout when something's just not working. I'm very proud of them!

So anyway, today was the big Drop. We went out in the sunshine, got our eggs all ready (you would have thought they were babies or something!), and began dropping them. When someone's egg "survived" the drop, we cheered and clapped because, well, it's so exciting!

The funny part came when one of my little guys noticed some eggs were breaking. He covered his heart, bowed his head, and said, "He was a good egg."

That was funny enough, but then another kid saw him doing this and saluted the eggs that cracked! It was like a military funeral.

How hilarious!

Tag...I'm it!

My friend Deanna (you can check out her blog...it's great...link on the side of my blog) virtually "tagged" me today. Here are the rules:

Someone "tags" you by posting a quick note on your blog that you've been tagged, then you have to post seven things/habits about yourself and then tag seven more people...I don't know if I know seven bloggers to tag, but I'll try! Most of my fellow 'net friends are on MySpace or Facebook, but we'll see!

Okay, seven habits/things lots of people don't really know...

oh boy...

1. I grew up in Muncie, Indiana, and my family lives within a five-mile radius, so you can imagine how far away I feel here in Warsaw (aaauuuggghhh, two hours!).

2. I am still best friends with some very interesting sisters: Lacee, who's hearing impaired (known for 12 years...she keeps me fluent in sign language); Dawn, fellow exercise nut (known for 16 years); and Tasha, the best graphic designer ever (known for 19 years...right, Tash?).

3. I'm a clean freak.

4. I eat something chocolate every day, even if it's the fat-free kind...BOO!

5. I'm a dog lover! I have two golden/lab retrievers, Sophie and Riley. They're our very hairy kids.

6. Someone told my husband I wanted to marry him just two weeks after we met (how humiliating!) and that's how we got together. Guess he wasn't too scared, huh?

7. I love going to the dentist! On the opposite side of the coin, I hate going to the doctor SO MUCH that I can't even stand to be around my own brother-in-law (a doctor) when I'm kind of sick.

Okay, that's seven! I think I only know two people to tag and I'm sorry, but I'm not yet a good enough blogger to figure out how to attach their blog addresses to their names:

Evan: natorsrevolution.blogspot.com
Katie: katieholts.blogspot.com

Cavity Worms

I haven't written anything in a little while...not good! School has been a bit busy and has kept me from blogging, but here's a good one for you all today.


One of my sweet little first graders has had a cavity in a tooth for quite awhile now...they're working on it, but you know how hard that can be sometimes.

Anyway, today she said, "You know, I finally figured out where my cavity is from."

Of course I wanted to hear her theory because this particular little girl has lots of funny theories for things she can't really explain.

So I replied, "And where was that?"

"Well," she wisely stated, "There are cavity worms in Fruit Loops. The last time I ate them my tooth hurt a LOT and it's because of the cavity worms getting in my tooth and eating it away."


I admire her confidence. :o)