Today I was teaching story elements to 1st grade and we were discussing characters. We read the story "Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type." After I finished the story I asked the kids to name the characters from the story.
Mrs. Honey, "Can you name a character from our story today?"
Kid: "Dr. Seuss."
What? Did I miss that part? Exactly where in the book "Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type" did you see Dr. Seuss?
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
What's your name again?
I had a new kindergartener today and as I've talked about before I often lose when playing the name game with them. I knew the little girl's first name from a previous class but had not put it into the computer yet, so I needed her last name.
"What is your last name?"
"Jacqueline"
"Can you spell that for me?"
"K-E-N-N-E-D-Y"
"What?" How do you confuse Kennedy and Jacqueline?
I can only assume that Jacqueline was her middle name. But who knows?
"What is your last name?"
"Jacqueline"
"Can you spell that for me?"
"K-E-N-N-E-D-Y"
"What?" How do you confuse Kennedy and Jacqueline?
I can only assume that Jacqueline was her middle name. But who knows?
Thursday, February 14, 2013
It keeps getting better!
While I was writing my Valentine's Day post a student came into my library to bring me a Valentine. Now usually I get one of the kid Valentine's that they hand out in class. Which cute even though I know I only got one because they had extras. But hey at least they thought of me. So that is what I was expecting when this student entered the room. I have never been so wrong. The student handed me a blank piece of notebook paper folded in half, with the directions from the kid to "do it yourself, Happy Valentine's Day!"
Valentine's Day 2013
I thought I'd include a few pictures from Valentine's Day. If you look closely you might just find a picture of Mrs. Honey hiding among the balloons! Also check out the balloon in the third picture. Seriously, who sends a balloon to their kid that's says I want you Valentine? There is just something really wrong with that.
The Dark Days of Elementary
I started this post to describe the most hated two days in elementary; Valentine's Day and Halloween. I then realized I missed a couple of other horrible days for elementary school teachers. Altogether there are four days every school year that strike fear in the hearts of elementary teachers.
Number one on my list would have to be Valentine's Day. First of all it's a pointless. It's suppose to be a holiday celebrating romantic love between two people. Instead, in my world it becomes the holiday where parents try to see who can buy the most crap for their kids. At our school all deliveries are sent to the gym until party time. By noon the entire gym floor is covered in flowers, candy baskets, balloons, and every stuffed animal you could possible imagine. There have also been a few instances of jewelry included in those deliveries. I mean really flowers and jewelry for elementary school kids? Another reason to hate the holiday? Candy! Now don't get me wrong, I live on candy 90% of the time. Sugar runs through my veins on a daily basis. But that doesn't mean I want to deal with 20 kids hyped up on it all morning. It's like having a roomful of meth addicted chihuahuas who all need to go to the bathroom. It's not pretty.
Next on the list is Halloween. Another holiday that is celebrated by eating as much candy as you possibly can before puking. Also if you're really lucky and it falls on a school night you get a roomful of kids who stayed up late eating candy and running around town the night before. There's also the chance that a kid might accidentally stumble onto your house during their candy raids. In that case they will then have to tell you and everyone they know that they know where you live.
Finally, the last two on my list; April Fool's Day and St. Patrick's Day. Now don't get me wrong I love a good prank, but these kids just don't get it. Here's a standard April Fool's Day prank from one of my elementary kids:
"Mrs. Honey, there's a spider on your shirt."
"Really?"
"APRIL FOOLS"
Repeat at least fifty more times before the end of the day. Apparently anything can count as an April Fool's joke as long as you yell "April Fool's" as loudly as you can afterwards.
As for St. Patrick's Day? Really? Unbridled pinching of anyone who happens to forget and doesn't wear green. The carnage is hard to take. It's madness!
Before I close, I do want to add one note of happy about Valentine's Day. In my town we have a local family business that has donated a balloon and a small snack pack for each student who doesn't receive any gifts. So in our school everybody gets a little something and nobody goes home empty handed.
Number one on my list would have to be Valentine's Day. First of all it's a pointless. It's suppose to be a holiday celebrating romantic love between two people. Instead, in my world it becomes the holiday where parents try to see who can buy the most crap for their kids. At our school all deliveries are sent to the gym until party time. By noon the entire gym floor is covered in flowers, candy baskets, balloons, and every stuffed animal you could possible imagine. There have also been a few instances of jewelry included in those deliveries. I mean really flowers and jewelry for elementary school kids? Another reason to hate the holiday? Candy! Now don't get me wrong, I live on candy 90% of the time. Sugar runs through my veins on a daily basis. But that doesn't mean I want to deal with 20 kids hyped up on it all morning. It's like having a roomful of meth addicted chihuahuas who all need to go to the bathroom. It's not pretty.
Next on the list is Halloween. Another holiday that is celebrated by eating as much candy as you possibly can before puking. Also if you're really lucky and it falls on a school night you get a roomful of kids who stayed up late eating candy and running around town the night before. There's also the chance that a kid might accidentally stumble onto your house during their candy raids. In that case they will then have to tell you and everyone they know that they know where you live.
Finally, the last two on my list; April Fool's Day and St. Patrick's Day. Now don't get me wrong I love a good prank, but these kids just don't get it. Here's a standard April Fool's Day prank from one of my elementary kids:
"Mrs. Honey, there's a spider on your shirt."
"Really?"
"APRIL FOOLS"
Repeat at least fifty more times before the end of the day. Apparently anything can count as an April Fool's joke as long as you yell "April Fool's" as loudly as you can afterwards.
As for St. Patrick's Day? Really? Unbridled pinching of anyone who happens to forget and doesn't wear green. The carnage is hard to take. It's madness!
Before I close, I do want to add one note of happy about Valentine's Day. In my town we have a local family business that has donated a balloon and a small snack pack for each student who doesn't receive any gifts. So in our school everybody gets a little something and nobody goes home empty handed.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Pajama Day
Pajama Day is always so fun for the kids. There is something just so exciting about doing something that your not suppose to do like wearing pajamas to school. Of course a hundred kids plus 5 teachers wearing pajamas is not enough of a clue for me that it actually is pajama day, so everyone of them has to point out to me that they are indeed wearing pajamas and that it is pajama day.
This year one of the teachers told me that one of the kids asked if they were going to wear their pajamas to the library. She asked him if he had brought any other clothes. He told her no, so she asked what did he think they were going to wear to the library if they didn't have any other clothes at school. He just looked at her and asked again. She shook her head and said yes they were going to wear their pajamas to the library.
Also this year we had a preemptive pajama day. One day about two weeks before the official pajama day I was walking the halls and saw a little boy skipping to class in Spongebob Squarepants pajamas. I turned and watched as he walked down the hall without a care in the world. When I saw his class after lunch, the pajamas were gone. His teacher told me they called mom and dad who bought him a change of clothes. Apparently, he told them it was pajama day and they just believed him and let him wear his pajamas. Honest mistake you say? Yeah, not really. He has a step brother who also lives with them and is also in kindergarten who did not show up in pajamas.
On a side note, please stop sending your five year old to pajama day is one piece, footy pajamas. It's just weird.
This year one of the teachers told me that one of the kids asked if they were going to wear their pajamas to the library. She asked him if he had brought any other clothes. He told her no, so she asked what did he think they were going to wear to the library if they didn't have any other clothes at school. He just looked at her and asked again. She shook her head and said yes they were going to wear their pajamas to the library.
Also this year we had a preemptive pajama day. One day about two weeks before the official pajama day I was walking the halls and saw a little boy skipping to class in Spongebob Squarepants pajamas. I turned and watched as he walked down the hall without a care in the world. When I saw his class after lunch, the pajamas were gone. His teacher told me they called mom and dad who bought him a change of clothes. Apparently, he told them it was pajama day and they just believed him and let him wear his pajamas. Honest mistake you say? Yeah, not really. He has a step brother who also lives with them and is also in kindergarten who did not show up in pajamas.
On a side note, please stop sending your five year old to pajama day is one piece, footy pajamas. It's just weird.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
My Heart Will Go On
The I survived series of books have become very popular in my school. It really amazes me how kids do not get the concept of historical fiction. Either everything is true or it's all made up. They do not understand how a made up story can use real events from history. The other day I was checking out the book "I survived the sinking of the Titanic." The student turned to me and asked me... "Rose was the only one who survived that, right?" It took a minute before I realized he was referring to the movie Titanic. "Honey, that was a made up movie. The Titanic was real, but the people in that movie were mostly made up". I'm still not sure he got the idea.
I told this story to another teacher who also pointed out the fact that a 4th grader probably shouldn't be familiar with a movie that shows sex and nudity. Hopefully he watched the edited TV version.
I told this story to another teacher who also pointed out the fact that a 4th grader probably shouldn't be familiar with a movie that shows sex and nudity. Hopefully he watched the edited TV version.
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