August 28 & 29, 2013

Another 2 day post thanks to principal class! I must admit, I've got some good ones in store for you today. Let's start with a few older items I've forgotten:

During morning car duty, some parents walk with their children to school. One mom was walking with her daughters and had a baby in a stroller. Here's what a passing kindergarten girl said:

Girl: That's a good baby.
Woman: Thank you.
Me: Yea. Way to go, super baby you've got there.

Talking about families in first grade...

Boy: My mom had a baby.
Me: Cool!
Boy: Yea, it happened in the summer so I couldn't tell you.
Girl: Guess what? My mom is going to have a baby in December and she's getting married in 34 days.
Me: Isn't that exciting?!

It's so exciting to see what a student is capable of!

This isn't a funny quote but rather a touching story. I have a fifth grade boy who is part of our special education program. He's unable to talk, and last year he didn't really do anything for me in Spanish class. Last year was the first year I'd really had special education students (at the high school level, very few special education students take a world language) and I'm still trying to figure out how to adapt assignments for their needs. This student blew me away when I saw that he had colored every picture correctly (he didn't have a gray marker or crayon which is why the last picture isn't correct). As I praised his work, he put a highlighter in my hand and my other hand on the lid. Then he guided my hand to each word so that I could trace the letters. After that I asked if he could trace the letters and he did. It was more work than he did for me all of last year combined. It was so amazing to see--it's like all of these things we've been doing in class have been sinking in and he's finally able to express them.

Let's move on to yesterday's excitement!

The fifth grade went on a field trip to Keeneland today, but first they had specials...

Girl: Miss Black, I have that hair thing!
Boy (we'll call him N): Me too!
Me: Really N? You have the same hair tie as me? We'll have to wear them on the same day so that we match.

One fifth grade boy, A, did not want to go on the field trip so he joined me for a portion of my fourth grade class, too...

Me: Why didn't you want to go to Keeneland, A?
A: I don't like travelling long distances.

Me: Next time we're going to start with our new vocabulary...
A: Here, let me walk you to the door.
Me: Well thank you for the escort, A.

Reviewing the alphabet in fourth grade...

Me: The letter x has a weird name in Spanish. X is called equis.
Boy: X sounds like "Eh, keys!"
Me: I suppose it does.

I can't imagine you've forgotten about the third grade boy who requested we learn about cacti...

Me: I wanted to tell y'all what the third grade classes suggested we learn about in Spanish this year. Animals, sports, food, nature...
Boy: Cactus?!
Me: I did write down the word cactus. I will make sure that we learn that word. I don't know it off the top of my head. I don't know much about cactus but we will learn the word.
Boy: Well, you could like bring in a cactus to show us or maybe like give us each a cactus seed. I just love cactus.

First grade focuses on my future...

Girl: Do you have a wife?
Me: No. [But isn't it nice to know I'd be supported no matter what my lifestyle choices?]
Girl: Do you have a husband?
Me: No, but I have a boyfriend.
Girl: Really? Who is he?
Me: Yes. He's just a guy. It's not like you know him.
Boy: Is he nice?
Me: Yes, he's very nice.
Girl: Are you going to have a baby?
Me: No
Girl: Are you sure?
Me: Not any time soon. I'm not even married. I've just got a boyfriend and dogs for right now.
Boy: She'll have one when she's a grown up.
Me: Exactly.

Morning duty chats...

Kindergarten girl: Next time you should look to see the zombies on the back of my car.
Me: I saw them.

The last item isn't a quote, but I do need to report that during dismissal time kindergartener AS was singing an odd mash-up of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" and "Row Row Row Your Boat".

And finally, we come to today!

The AC was broken this morning
which resulted in this sexy hairdo.

One fifth grade boy delivered several quality quotes today...

Boy: I'm gonna skeedaddle. (He also added a salute to this)
Me: Of all the words I ever expected to hear you say, skeedaddle, had to be at the bottom of the list.

Boy: Wanna know how to make it like you got big muscles? I just stick a tennis ball under my sleeve and flex. But it can't be a squishy ball because then it just looks like fat.

Boy: "I have a present for you. It's
in my backpack." My first gift
of the year from a kindergarten boy.

Our lesson in kindergarten today was all about the color blue. We learned the word azul and colored things that are blue...

Girl: This is a blueberry bird. It's a bird that eats blueberries and its beak gets all messy.

Me: What color is...the UK basketball team?
Girl: Rojo?
*10 points to this girl for not knowing something about UK sports!

I ran into a kindergarten girl on my way to teach the first grade...

Girl: Hey Spanish teacher! (Because that's one of my many names)
Me: Hey Spanish student!
Girl: Do you know where we can get some Spanish learning?
Me: Well, why don't you wait until you have Spanish class?

While waiting for my first grade class I was listening to a kindergarten girl answer some questions about words that rhyme. She was given a word and was asked to say a word that rhymed with it...

• Candy: tummy ache          Hop: bunny          Dark: night light
• Pain: house                      See: k                  Cake: wolf eating a cake

In one of my first grade classes, a boy came back to class a few moments after the rest of his class. We were singing a song and he pulled a Ziploc bag out of his pocket...

Boy: Underwear! Can I go to the bathroom?
Me: No, your entire class just went.
Boy: I didn't go.
Me: Why not? You had a chance with everyone else.
Boy: I had to check to see if there was poop in my butt and I didn't have my underwear with me.
Me: Did you have an accident?
Boy: No.
Me: So, why didn't you go to the bathroom while you were in there "checking"?
Boy: Because I didn't have my underwear.
I tell him to put the bag of [clean] underwear in his backpack and we continue with class. At the end of class, we're lining up to leave and he's getting the underwear out again.
Me: Why are you getting your underwear out?
Boy: Because I need to go to the bathroom.
Me: OK, you can go on the way to the next specials class but you don't need your underwear.
Boy: Yes I do because I have to check and see if there's poop in my butt...
Me: BUT DID YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT?
Boy: Yes, a long time ago in Ms. O'Connor's [his kindergarten teacher] class so I always have these with me.
Me: Do you understand that if you didn't have an accident right now then you don't need to change your underwear?
Boy: But...
Me: Oh my God, just bring your underwear.