Built To Last

About once a month I teach a large group session for 2nd-4th graders at my church. The theme of the day yesterday was "Built To Last," so everything was taught around this idea of people in the church being built to last.


My lesson opening question was, "What do you think of when you hear the words 'built to last'?"

I got a few answers:

"Something that stays."

"Something strong."


And the first-class answer of the day:

"Ford Trucks!"



Have the Ford commercials ministered to your kids today?

Home Alone

Today we talked about how to be safe if you're home alone. Of course we couldn't move on without hearing every story known to man about how "my brother called 9-1-1 once" and "one time a guy came to the door so I..." kind of things.

It was comforting to me that these parents have done a fantastic job of teaching their kids what to do.

One of my students is so funny because he's very quiet and compliant but has this kind of hidden streak of "stinker" in him too...so he's a lot of fun. He told us this important fact about being home alone:


"You should always know your neighbors because once when I was home alone I was jumping on the couch and I choked on a cracker and I had to go tell my neighbor."


For the rest of the afternoon, every time I even looked at this kid I laughed. So funny!

Dirt

Birthdays are a big deal when you're turning seven. In first grade world, we always have to sing, wear a birthday hat, eat some treats, etc. Not to mention if the birthday cake isn't on the calendar, we throw a fit.

But I digress again.

So on this particular day, a mother brought dirt pudding in for a birthday treat for her daughter's school party. If you're not familiar with dirt pudding, it's chocolate pudding with Oreo cookies crumbled on top to look like topsoil. This particular mom knew her audience and also included a gummy worm in the dirt and a little flower on top.

A couple of my kids were new to dirt pudding and were a little concerned:

"Is this really dirt?"

"Are we supposed to really eat this?"


Then we had to have a little meeting about how it's not really dirt, it's chocolate pudding, etc.


As someone who finds kids really funny, it was enough for me that they thought we'd actually feed them dirt and call it a treat...happy birthday, here's some dirt...okey dokey...but the story got better. I walked around the room as they ate and asked one kid, "So...does it really taste like dirt?"

His reply still cracks me up:

"No way, this does NOT taste like dirt at all. Dirt is crunchy and gets stuck in your teeth."

Somehow I wasn't surprised that this kid had eaten dirt before...and probably some other questionable stuff.

The Tooth Fairy

I've had students of several different backgrounds and religions in the short time I've taught. One day we got into the (dangerous!) discussion about the tooth fairy. A couple of my students didn't celebrate holidays or childhood characters, and one of these kids said,

"I don't believe in the tooth fairy because it goes against my gods. But I really want to test it out just to see."

I don't know if she did or not! I should have checked. ;o)

President

One day out of sheer curiosity I asked, "How old do you think you have to be to be the President?"

One first-grader said, "Old enough to drink beer!"

True...

The Color "People"

We do a lot of coloring in first grade.

So one day I asked my kids to get out their favorite color crayon. One student held up a peach one and said, "Mrs. Overman, this is my favorite color: it's the color people."

I know Crayola has funny names for colors like "Robin's Egg Blue" and "Macaroni and Cheese," but can you imagine the hits they'd take for naming peach "People"? Wow!

Cute from the mouth of a child, though!

Taxes

During our calendar time today, I told my first-graders that grown-ups have to pay their taxes today.

"What are taxes?" they all wanted to know.

"Taxes are money we pay to the President and his business so we can have things like nice roads, schools, and other stuff, " I said.

Then the question of the hour from one very curious little girl:

"Okay, so do I need to send my money right to the President or can I just take it to the bank?"


Oh, darling, if only it were that easy!