Slaves

We were discussing the idea of slavery once during my first year of teaching. I explained that slavery is when you have to do whatever someone tells you whether you like it or not, for free.

One kid made quite a connection:

"Well then, we're all slaves to our moms!"

That's right, darling! ;o)

Diary of a Fly

I love little J in my class. He's the one that's in his own bubble all the time...and he's hilarious--NOT on purpose.


Today I introduced the book Diary of a Fly and J blurted out, "Oh yeah, Diarrhea of a Fly!"


Okay, I can see where this is going.


Usually my kids just kinda let his comments go because they know he says crazy stuff, but not this time. "No! It's Diary of a Fly, not Diarrhea of a Fly!"

This kid seriously did not get it.

He said, "It is Diarrhea of a Fly. And listen, I know what diarrhea is. It's poop. This story is Diarrhea of a Fly."

Oh my.

All right kids, let's hope none of you tell your parents that we read a book about diarrhea today.

Let Me Help You...

I count backward from ten lots during the day to motivate my kids to move on to whatever we're doing next.

Sometimes this is how it goes:

Me: "Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...zero."

That's on a good day.



Sometimes it goes like this:

Me: "Ten...nine..."

Kid: "Mrs. Overman! I need help."

Me: "Okay, what? Eight...seven....Please put that over there....six..."



You get the point.



And some days, after a long, long, day, it goes like this:

Me: "Ten...nine...eight...G, please put that on my desk...eight...right there...eight..."

G: "Umm, Mrs. Overman, you're on seven now."

Me: "Great, thanks. Seven...six..."


Hey, I'm glad SOMEONE'S listening!

Another Good One for Today

We walked outside today to see the fire trucks (it's fire prevention week) and as soon as we stepped out, one of my SIX-YEAR-OLDS (bear in mind, he's six!) says:

"Ahhh! I feel so young again!"

Are you kidding me?!

;o)

Bathroom

Two things to know that make all the difference in this story:

1. I do this thing where I systematically send my kids to the restroom...it's a long explanation.

2. Right now we're singing through a book called "Take Me Out of the Bathtub." It's this hilarious book of songs that are to the tune of common songs we all know...for example, the song "Take Me Out of the Bathtub" is to be sung to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Here's how we usually end up singing it:

"Take----me out of the baaaaaath--tub
Take----me out of the suuuuuuuuds!"

etc.


Apparently I forgot to send one of my little guys to the restroom this morning. He's kind of a wallflower and doesn't like to talk or bother me very often. Our room was really quiet (I was reading to them) and all of the sudden I heard a tiny voice sing:

"Take----me into the baaaaathroom
"Take----me into there noooooooow"


Me: "Okay, M, please go to the bathroom."

Oops.

She Wiped WHAT On Your Desk?!

If I haven't said it before, my kids this year are HILARIOUS.

Have you ever had to have one of those tough conversations with your kids (biological or otherwise)...and it was only tough to do because you thought the incident itself was funny?

That's me today.

So one of my little guys is crying...he kinda cries easily, so I usually just let it go. However, he says to me, "Mrs. Overman, M has been wiping boogers on my desk."

Trying to keep my face REALLY straight--oh no--it's failing--quick, do something--

I say, "Okay, I'll go talk to her."

Ahh, big smile cracks. I'm better. Here I am, ready with my sternest teacher look.

"M, can you come talk to me for a minute? B tells me you've been doing something to his desk."

M: "Yes. I've been picking my nose and wiping the boogers on his desk."

Here are my thoughts: Oh my goodness, I can't laugh! This is so disgusting! Help me, please, because this is REALLY gross and soooo not good for my hatred of germs, but it's ridiculously funny! What do I say?!

I come up with this:

"Well, M, no more wiping your nose on his desk. That's germy."

And then, of no fault of my own, I LAUGHED RIDICULOUSLY.

Sorry kids, your teacher laughs at words like "boogers" as much as you do...even though she scolds you for it.


Ah, what is one to do?

The Pledge and our ABCs

Lunch today cracked me up.

We are asked to eat with our kids which is, I must say, one of the most enlightening experiences ever. Everyone should do it.

I was eating my sandwich when one of my little girls stood up, looked at the flag, and started reciting The Pledge of Allegiance. In the middle of her turkey sandwich.

Okay.

Then another little guy chimed in.

It went something like this, with each of them kinda filling in a word here and there for each other:

"I pledge eeegance to the flag. 'Nited States of 'Merica. And...and..."

All right, that's as far as they could go.

You can see it in their eyes: they need to do something to make themselves feel better since they clearly can't remember The Pledge. You know, The Pledge--this thing we say EVERY day of EVERY year in EVERY school in our country.

All of a sudden I hear a rousing rendition of the Alphabet song, opera style.



Ahh, much better. We know that one.

All In a Day's Work

I just want to give you a little picture of my kids this year.

If you don't teach, you probably won't find this quite as funny as my colleagues...but let's see, shall we?

This is why I love my job: it's never, ever boring.


Picture the end of the day. Our writing coach, Ruth, was in my room for a lesson that we ended up tag-teaming and doing quite nicely with, if we do say so ourselves. It was a lesson on organizing writing folders and was a little messy--asking seven-year-olds to organize ANYTHING is quite a chore.

My kids are shot. It's 2:55 and they're cooked, done, al dente. We had already done our end-of-the-day rituals and they had their little backpacks on, ready for the buses. As Ruth and I stood laughing, we knew just by watching them stand in line how tired they were:

1. One kid was spinning. Literally spinning--like a top. Probably faster.

2. One kid asked, "Where are we going?" Umm, put it together here, kiddo...backpack's on, kids are lined up...

3. My little J who is in his own bubble (love this kid!) is "making farting sounds" to the annoyance of those around him--a favorite pastime of his, most annoying and noticeable when others are tired.

4. And of course, most of our days end with, "I don't remember if my mom's coming!" "I forget where I get picked up!" "I'm supposed to ride the bus with..."


And Abracadabra!

It's the end of the day.


Why would I ever work in an office?


You can't make this stuff up.

Dog Book

I'm going back to my first year of teaching for this one.

I was teaching Reading Recovery during my first year and every day each of my students took a book home to practice reading. I wanted to send a book about Golden Retrievers with one of my kids one night because he had a dog and really enjoyed the book. I showed him his practice book and he refused to take it, saying, "I can't take this book home. My dog gets really mad when other dogs come in our house and I just don't think he'll like this dog at our house."

Whoa...I'm not really sure he understood this was a PICTURE of a dog...

I Wondered When This Would Happen.

My maiden name is Beaty...as in Warren, but with only one T. When my mom got married she went from Keller to Beaty, and her students always messed up her name (especially when she was pregnant) and called her Mrs. Baby.

I've had all that; Miss Baby, etc.

So when I got married and my name changed to Overman, I kinda always wondered if kids would ever run with the fact that my name has "man" in it.

Until this week, no one has.

Remember my little kid we call J on here? Awesome kid, lives in his own bubble, lots of theories? He has a twin in the room across the hall and they are the best of friends. The other day he said to me, "Mrs. Overman, my brother and I have been talking about you and we just CANNOT understand why your name has "man" in it since you're a girl."

I said, "J, that's just my name. Just like your name has words in it too."

J: "Yeah, but you're a girl!"


All right, at least you didn't add any comment about how my arms are hairy too. It's not so bad.

Braces and Containers

The kids in my classes for the last two years have had a lot of dental issues, so last year I did a unit on healthy habits. I included a kind of how-to session on doing what your dentist says and following his directions. In the past I've showed them how to brush their teeth, floss, etc. Once I even did a part about how to take care of braces and retainers because I had several kids with orthodontic issues too. Yeah, I even talked about how I'm 26 and still wear my retainers...didn't say how supercool they are when you're married, though...coming to bed every night in retainers!

But I digress.


This year I've had several girls from my past classes tell me how their orthodontic appointments have gone and they have of course shown me their awesome (and from my experience, painful) mouth metal.

Today one of my past students found me and said, "Mrs. Overman! I went to the dentist and he said I have to get braces and CONTAINERS!"


I guess that's kinda what retainers are...plastic stuff to hold your teeth in your mouth...

King Tattletale

I had an anonymous commenter last night mention that I was mean for calling kids quirky.

If you read my blog regularly, you know I love my kids. Love them.

When I use the word quirky, this means they have some funny things they do. In my world, it's all good clean fun.

I am rewriting the last post to say the same thing, so now if there was a question in your mind about me using the word "quirky," you'll know I don't mean it in a negative way as some people in your life might.


I have lots of kids in my class this year who are quirky. They're so funny...they all have these little idiosyncrasies about them and silly things they do that make them tick...and almost ALL of them are that way. It's so funny...but makes for a hard day sometimes if all their little idiosyncrasies mix too much in one day.

I have nicknames for some of my kids so when I tell their stories at night my husband knows who they are without me having to say things like, "Remember the kid who...?".

This little guy's nickname is King Tattletale.

He is so adorable; bright blue eyes, blonde hair, darling personality...but he feels the need to tattle on anything and anyone.

Unfortunately, lately most of my conversations with him have started, "Honey, are you here to tattle? Because I just can't hear anymore tattling today. My ears are broken." And he goes away.

But it's getting better.

Lots of times he'll report things/kids that are bothering him: "Mrs. Overman, B is poking me!"

Or sometimes, he'll report things just for the heck of it, whether he's involved or not: "Mrs. Overman, M and B are arguing!"

Okay, thank you.

The other day he said, "Mrs. Overman, B is READING THE WORD WALL!"

He was crazy-upset.

I just wanted to say,

"Oh my dear heavens, what are we going to do?!?!"