Existential Pumpkin Questions

At some point, haven't we all wondered, "Wie am I karvd?"

Rib-bon! Rib-bon!

We were writing birthday letters today, and I was previewing a pictorial dictionary of birthday words. One of the words was "ribbon" (because, hey, you might want to write something about ribbon). Alita, my spunky Russian student, looks at me and goes, "Like a frog, Mr. Graham? Ribbb-bon? Ribbb-bon?"

So I gave her an overexaggerated stinkeye and she waved her hand breezily. "I just kidding, Mr. Graham. I know it not the frog."

Cute.

"Birth-day socks, birth-day socks"

During reading group today, one child starts grooving to himself, "Birth-day socks, birth-day socks". Then he leans over his neighbor, "except, you know, they sing it with the other words."

Oy.

Pop culture reference, for those who don't get it right away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYMxOzxKYYo

Ohhhhhhh, yeah

I was trying something new today, and rather than writing birthday cards for students, we were trying out birthday letters. Or, really, letters that say nice things. One of them got a little bit more Barry White than I expected.

Smooth AND gentle. Oooohhhhh, yeah.

Things that on which first graders are experts:

October 11, 2010 edition

Today, first graders are experts on:

-how to kill vampires (sunlight, not light bulbs. Or a stake. But not a steak.)

-the existence of, and how to kill, werewolves (yes, they're real)

Things they are not experts on:

-spelling "kickball". ("Mr. Graham, what comes after the 'w' and 'm' in 'kickball'?")

-high fiving (seriously, 60% of the time, it's like 2 ships passing in the night. Thank goodness my hand is a big target)

"Yeeeeeah, seee?"

We had baby carrots for snack today, and I was tucked in at a table, working with a first grader on writing his numbers. I looked across the table, and another kiddo was totally focused on his work, mumbling to himself with a carrot hanging out of his mouth like a mobster with a cigar. In my head, I added his dialogue as the carrot flipped from side to side. "Yeah, see, that's a mistake you don't wanna make, see?"

Second story: a bright BRIGHT student was so excited because her mom would be helping in the library this afternoon. (She'd thought Mom was coming last week, but Mom had to cancel at the last minute)

Her: "Mr. Graham! My mom is ACTUALLY going to be in the library today, probably!"

Me: "Actually?"

Her: "Actually probably!"

Me: "So your mom is probably going to actually be in the library today?"

Her: "Um, yeah! What you said!"