Ah, Writing Workshop.

When you let kids have free choice during Writing Workshop, sometimes you have no where to go but down.

But you have to go down laughing.

This is what one of my kids wrote for his Slice of Life story yesterday:

"I was at home.  My dog puked on the couch.  Then my mom and dad came home.  It smelled like crap.  We cleaned it up.  Then my dog went into my room and puked on my bed.  It smelled like crap."


At least he's using repetitive phrases.

Sweating my leg.

It was hot yesterday.
It was Spring Picture Day yesterday.
Our pictures were at the end of the day.

You do the math.

Anyway, one of my little guys was wearing dress pants, a long-sleeved button-down shirt, and a clip-on necktie.

And it was 80 degrees.

So he put the necktie in his pocket during recess.  I saw him running around without it and said, "Hey M, where's your tie?"

M yelled, "Oh, it's in my pocket, but it's sweating my leg now so I'm just gonna leave it right here on the bench."

Carp. Yeah, like the fish.

One of my little guys is wearing my favorite shirt of his today.  It's from some kind of restaurant in Florida or something with lots of seafood and the back says

"What a bunch of carp."

A Cool Breeze.

Ah, my darling Wheels.

She is currently crafting a fantabulous poem called "Wind" that goes like this:

The wind
Reminds me of
A fan
A cool fan
And a strong breeze.

We were conferring about exact language so she chose to use the words "strong breeze" in her poem.  Apparently it stuck because a little while later I said, "You all need jackets to go outside today" to which Wheels replied, "Look, Mrs. Overman, see my jacket?  Now I'm totally ready for a strong breeze!"

She's so poetic.

The Scariest Thing You've Ever Lived Through.

My question for our community circle yesterday was "What is the scariest thing you've lived through?"

I got the following answers:


"I was in a car wreck."
"When I broke my leg."
"When my grandma died of cancer."
"When I was sick."

and...
"Well...I'd have to say that I'm the only girl with three brothers and that is very scary."

Spelling Test and a Movie.

One of my little girls came up to me and said this:

"Oh, Mrs. Overman, I'm so worried about my spelling test!  If I miss more than one my mom said I won't be seeing that new movie for seven years!  That means I won't get to see it until I'm fifteen!"

Then I heard her telling her spelling test partner who was helping her study:

"Listen, I have to really practice hard right now because seven years is a long time and I need to see that movie!  I'll be old by then!"

Science Fair.

We recently concluded our science fair and one of my girls was quite distressed that her mother just didn't seem to have time to help with her science project and therefore she didn't get to do one.  She, however, bounced back with her plan for next year:

"Mrs. Overman, you know what I'm going to do my science project about next year?  Bunnies.  I'm going to see how fat they can get in a day."