"It's Robin Hood's girlfriend..."

Going through "Each Peach Pear Plum" with a reading group today, just looking at the pictures, one of the kids exclaims, "Look! It's Robin Hood's girlfriend, Robin Girl!" And indeed, in the picture of Robin Hood, there's a small framed photo of Robin Hood's girlfriend. Observant children...

I know what's coming next....

So, I'd just dropped my class off at library today, and I was walking back down to my classroom, when I passed a student walking with his SMART reader (SMART=Start Making A Reader Today). Now, the readers are very nice, well-meaning people, usually either college kids or retirees, but they haven't necessarily been teachers with classrooms. The reader is chatting at this first grader, and she's trying to engage him with questions about what he did at recess, or how his weekend was. He's having none of it. He is carrying a book, and is totally focused on swinging it back and forth. As I pass them, he turns to her intently and says, "I bet that I could hit the ceiling with this book." Without really thinking about it, the reader gently replies, "Oh, I'm sure that you could, but..."
And in my head, I know EXACTLY what is going to happen. Sure enough, she says, "Oh, I'm sure that you could, but..." sshhTHWAP - I hear the sound as the book hits the ceiling and flutters down to the ground, pages rustling from the fall. I didn't turn around to watch, but I laughed all the way back to my classroom.

Well, not quite

At lunch today, the students were informing me that their parents were SOO much older than me. "My mom is older than you! She's 26!"
When I told them that my grandmother was 85, the Vietnamese student across the table from me visibly blanched, and then asked tentatively, "She almost dead?"

SCIENCE!

The joys of having a small Van der Graaf generator in my classroom to use at the end of the day!

Starting the day off right

Heard over breakfast:
1st grader: "Knock, knock"
Kindergartner: "Who's there?"
1st grader: "Ya"
Kindergartner: "Ya who?"
1st grader: "Are you so excited to go on the internet??"

Well, yeah, that makes sense

So, I had a kiddo out sick today, and when his mom emailed me, she made sure to include this tidbit: "[He| is in bed reading "The Orange Outlaw" with all of his A-Z mysteries around him! I think that he's reading TO them!"
I have this picture in my mind of this kid, sick in bed, with his books arranged around him, keeping a vigil and listening to him read. It make total sense for this kid.

"Um, hellooooo"

Walking down the hall to recess with the class, I pass a postal worker heading towards the office.

About 7 seconds later, I hear
Irvin: "Hi, mailman!"
Mailman: "Um, helllloooo."

Made me smile.

Cheater? Not me!

"Mr. Graham, we are horse and you are cheetah!"

This is after running on the track outside - I originally thought that she was calling me a "cheater", but that's the impact of a Vietnamese accent...

Well, THAT shouldn't happen in a classroom

"Mr. Graham! Eric is buggering me! He keeps touching my erasers!"

("buggering" = combo of "bothering" and "bugging")

Sound advice

First grader: "Mr. Graham, you shouldn't twist my hand like that!"
Me: "I didn't twist your hand. But if you didn't like how it felt, maybe you shouldn't twist your arm like that when I'm holding your hand."
First grader: "Well, but, um, Mr. Graham, you shouldn't fart in your sandwich!"
Me: "Whaaaaat?"

is so hung MY GOD

A kindergartner finished writing a story today. It read "I have a god. my god is name Anna. my god is so hung is so hung my god."

Slightly less funny when she reveals that she's writing about a hungry dog, but still, I laughed.

Lessons on symmetry

A first grader pulls her braid up over her head and down the middle of her face - "Mr. Graham! Look! I'm symmetrical!"