Summer!

Hi all! I'm taking a blogging break because, let's face it, I rarely catch stories in the summer since my own "children" are four-legged, chase bunnies, and bark. We'll catch up in the fall.

And FYI, you'll hopefully read more about the same characters since I get to keep my class next year (mostly). Yay!

Kuh-lone.

I have to squeeze out all the Little J stories I can since we only have 2 days to go...here's a good one for you.

Little J: Mrs. Overman, I wish I had a kuh-lone.

Me: What? Cologne?

Little J: NO! No, kuh-lone.

Me: Cologne...why, do you think you stink?

Little J: NO! NO! NO! Kuh-lone! A kuh-lone is somebody who looks just like me!

[I'm thinking, honey, you're a twin, you have that already]

Me: Oh, clone. Why?

Little J: Then I could sit at home all day and do nothin' while he does all the work.

It's field day.

It was field day today.

Two quick stories for you:

1. We were playing a game where if you were wearing green you had to run. One of my little girls said, "Mrs. Overman, I don't think I should run because I only have green on my panties and that doesn't really count, right?"

No.



2. One little guy from another team fell really hard during a game and said, "Mrs. Minear, my head's pretty hard, but that one really hurt."

Eyeball

Little J often kinda "hooks" into one thing each day. Some days it's Velcro. Some days it's lamps.



Today it is a plastic googly eyeball.



You know the kind--you buy them to make eyes for creatures you make.

That eyeball has been EVERYWHERE today.

In fact, he can't be without it. So you can image the trauma when it got lost this morning:

[running around room, screaming] "I LOST MY EYEBALL! I LOST MY EYEBALL! PLEASE, I CAN'T FIND MY EYEBALL!"

Fortunately for us all, we found it.

____________________________________________________________

The kids are outside right now and the eyeball is on the sink.

Maybe I'll just throw it away and be done with it...but I have this feeling that if I do, I'll be dumpster diving by 2:00.

The Seventies and Eighties

Here is the conversation I had with a little girl at lunch today:

"Mrs. Overman, did you know my mom was born at the seventies? Or maybe the eighties. But she's been to both. Did you know the seventies and eighties are places? And they don't have TV there. And lots of things are black and white. Plus their toys are different at the eighties too. My grandpa died at the eighties. Have you been there?"


When I was there I wore legwarmers with my side-ponytail.

Manners.

We had to have a good, healthy talk about manners the other day because we've just forgotten all about them. I made a quick little sign with our most popular manner words:

*Please
*Thank you
*You're welcome
*Excuse me
*I'm sorry

One of my little ones said "please" this morning and I made a big stink about how nice that was, what a great idea it was, etc.

Shortly after that, another little girl came up and said, "Mrs. Overman! I farted during circle time and remembered to say excuse me!"

Excellent. Now let's work on not doing that at all, please.

Barnyard Animals

I have a little one who lives on a farm and recently got some baby chicks. M, we'll call her. Other names have been changed.

So M updates us on her new chicks a lot. Today was no different...well, that's not really true:

"Well, guys, you know my baby chicks? They're named after some of our kids in here--Chelsea, Holly, and Nikki. Sorry to say this, Chelsea, but the one named after you died last night."


Thanks for sharing....Meanwhile, I'm thinking up new rules for sharing time:
1. No sharing about death.
2. No sharing about body parts or functions of those parts.
3. No theorizing about what your parents do when you can't seem to get their bedroom door open. Just go play, okay?

Animal Names

Twice today I've had something come up with pets' names:

1. One of my little girls wrote the names of her puppies. One was Virginia. Did you know Virginia sounds really bad when you say it with a long i? Vir-jine-ya. But hey, when you often sound out words, sometimes they come out funny.

2. "Mrs. Overman, did you know I have a cat named Lucifer? Because he always scratches you all the time."

No, I'm not telling my kids they were right.

We are turning into second graders in my room. That means a lot of things, but lately it's meant that lots of things are much more dramatic because we make them that way.

Ugh.

So...the other day, I see about four of my kiddos crouched in a corner, murmuring something and motioning others to come over too.

"Mrs. Overman, there's a dead frog over here!"

Recalling some earlier drama, I say, "I'm sure it's not a dead frog. That is just so silly; no frogs would come in here. Now enough. Get back to work right now, please."

Later in the day, more kids, more drama...more dead-frog-in-the-corner conversations...more "Enough, please!" from me.

I finally cave and go see said frog.

I don't have the eyes of a seven year old, so all I see is a chunk of something and I report to them:

"That is not a frog. It's nothing. Keep reading."

Now, I secretly know it is something...and I'm not touching it. Therefore I make the executive decision: we're done with working on the floor today.

After school, I mention to our custodian that there's something under the cabinets and I don't want to touch it, will you please take care of it? The kids are sure it's a frog, but please just get rid of it.

He does, and says,

"Don't tell your kids...it is a dead frog."

*groan*

God

Check out the OTHER conversation that happened at my back table today.

Same kids.



Little J: Mrs. Overman, I've been wondering since kindergarten: how did all this stuff get made?

Me: What stuff?

J: You know, STUFF! STUFF! All the stuff everywhere in here. EVERYTHING!

Me: Like...paper? Pictures? Books?

J: NO!!!!!! EVERYTHING!

[somebody help me...]

Me: Like...in the world? Like outside?

J: YES. Yes, like everything outside. How did God make all that? Where did he get the stuff to make all the stuff?

[we wish we knew!]

A: You can pray and ask Him and He'll tell you.

J: Oh my gosh! WHAT?!?! Oh my!

Fingernails.

Check out the conversation that went on at my back table today.

A: Mrs. Overman, is it just me, or are your fingernails growing before my eyes?

Me: What?!?! Umm, it's just you.

Little J: Hey! I thought girls only cut their toenails!

Worms

There's a supercute picture book called Diary of a Worm that's written from a worm's perspective. He tries new things, has friends, etc. He mentions in the book that one of the sad things about being a worm is that you can't chew gum.

One of my little guys today wrote this response in his reading notebook:

Name: N.
Title: Diary of a Worm
The big idea is you may think that worms have better lives than yours but his is worser.


Does that make you feel better or what?

Good At Drawing

Little J, Little J.

Today he was BEYOND fascinated that I had two copies of the same book AND that everything was exactly the same in them.

He checked out all the pages. "Read me the part when she says PU again! I'm going to find it in the other book now."

"Look, that's a picture like in this one!"



And then, a lightbulb clicked on in his brain...a different-colored lightbulb, but a lightbulb nonetheless:

"Mrs. Overman! This author must be really good at drawing. She copied the same EXACT picture on this book! And it looks the same as this one in the other book!"


Yep.

Golfing

Quote of the day:

"Mrs. Overman, you know what? My brother and I played some golf yesterday and I hit him right in the head. But he didn't die or anything."

Big Idea.

My kids have said the FUNNIEST things lately...I wish I could remember them all.


Here's a little background on how I teach reading that is pertinent to this story:
My kids have learned (yay!) to identify the "Big Idea" of each story. The big idea is what you think the author is trying to teach everyone.

More additional info:
My students LOVE Dr. Seuss books...especially Hop On Pop, which is all about words that rhyme (like "Ed, Red, and Ted are in Bed").

One of my little guys placed his reading notebook on my desk (I write in them and give them back the next day). This is what it said:

Name: N.
Title: Hop On Pop
The big idea is don't hop on your Pop when your Pop is sleeping.


Don't you think that's a good lesson for everyone?

Conversations

Some of the conversations kids have with one another just crack me up. There have been A LOT of them lately. Really too many to write down--but I'll try to get in a couple.



Conversation one (told to me by a friend):

A: Did you know that the word phone starts with a p?

K: I know! It's so weird.




Conversation two (in my classroom today):

T: I am sooo sick today. AND I threw up last night.

M: Yeah, well, I have sinus problems. And that is MUCH worse than throwing up because you have to sneeze ALL DAY.



Conversation three (at lunch the other day):

N: Mrs. Overman, how do they get chicken nuggets?

Me: How do you think they make them?

N: Well, they probably kill the chicken, cut it into circles and then cook it.

Me: Yeah, you're right! How do they get milk?

N: [pretends to milk cow] Or sometimes they use robots to milk them too.