Monday, November 18, 2013

Art and Notes and More!

Kids love to draw and doodle on things. I can't blame them because I do the same thing. 



Sometimes it's something as simple as a little stick figure saying "Hola," and other times it's detailed illustrations of your plans of becoming an astronaut and interacting with aliens when you grow up.

Somehow I think I forgot to mention the role that my boyfriend and I played in the Fall Carnival. We manned the face painting booth all night. And since we're super brave, we attempted to paint whatever the kids requested. Naturally, I made kids pose for some photos because I was proud of my quality work. Jerry didn't do that...he did mention having to paint several fox faces, I'm not sure what that was about.

Below we have the kid that started the "I want a mask around my eyes" trend, one of my better flowers, and a dragon (I resisted the urge to paint Trogdor). On the right you'll see Dora (that one threw me for a loop) as well as my best rendition of a zombie.


Casually mention that geese freak you out because you were once chased by one as a child and what happens? A second grade girl draws you a picture of "Queen Goosey".


On Halloween we had a character dress up day so that students and staff could dress up like a character from a book. I decided to come as Hermione Granger from Harry Potter (specifically Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban based on my Time Turner necklace). This did result in me yelling at a few kids who claimed to not like Harry Potter despite never having read it.





On the left are some of my kindergarten kids with their Day of the Dead skull masks that we made.

And on the right, all I have to say is, "Miss Black, wait! I've got a note for you!"





I hung this one up despite the spelling error. I figure she either loves Spanish or spinach and either one is good for her. Besides, how would I be the best teacher in the whole wid world if I didn't hang it up?




November 18, 2013

What do you say we start this post off with another interesting thing I overheard M saying to one of the reading teachers?...

M: We know that dogs like baths and cats don't like baths.
Teacher: What? Why are you talking about baths?
M points to a picture in the book
Teacher: That's a fireplace.

For this 9 weeks my morning duty is not outside (yay!). I stand by the stairs and see all the kids who come up from eating breakfast downstairs in the cafeteria. I've received two invitations to join some boys for breakfast in the morning which I've sadly had to decline. Anyway, there's a lot of traffic that passes by me in the morning. For example, there's a first grade boy who sometimes helps me police the halls...

Boy: My knows the bells gonna ring but I gonna stay here and help you. (Sees an older kid running) Hey! No running! Just walk. (And the kid actually listened). Him's fast walking, it's OK.

I've also developed a little crew I'll call The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club is made up of a few 3rd grade boys who can stir up trouble should the mood strike them. For whatever reason they like to stop and talk to me in the morning and I figure, if it helps start their day off on the right foot then I'm cool. The BC and I talk about some interesting things...

BC Boy 1: Hey girl! (Holds out his hand for a high five)
Me: Did you just call me girl?
BC Boy 2: Are you going to have a baby?
Me: Nope.
BC Boy 2: Are you married?
Me: Nope.
BC Boy 1: But she got a boyfriend. I seen your picture at your desk.
Me: Yes, I do have a boyfriend.
BC Boy 1: How come you ain't married?
Me: I didn't say I was never getting married, I'm just not currently married.
BC Boy 2: Aww, can I be your best man?
Me: Well that's usually the groom's choice.
BC Boy 2: What's that mean?
Me: That means it's the boy's choice who gets to be the best man, but I'll put in a good word for you.

And then there are the times that I hear things with absolutely no context...

3rd Grade Boy: We need muscles to get ladies.

Kid: It's like an old show. Was there an old show called Go Go Gadget? (*Had this not been going on in another classroom I would've taken time out of my day to educate this child on Inspector Gadget)

Finally, I think I'll end with some AS. He's been making quite a few plans for us lately...

AS: We going to go ice skating. Me, you, and Alan (AS's kindergarten bestie). I gonna take the wheels off my skateboard and we gonna go ice skting.
Me: Wow. I'm not very good. I usually fall down a lot. Is that OK if I fall down and squish you?
AS: I'ma show you how to do it. We go tomorrow night.
[The next day]
Me: What happened? We didn't go ice skating! You never picked me up.
AS: I forgot to get Alan, too. I gon pick you up in my little car.
Me: Your little car? Will I fit?
AS: I pull the big car behind it.
Me: That's a good idea. Are we going tonight?
AS: No. Christmas.
*His cousin has now told me that he talks about our ice skating date at home*

AS: Why you no go trick or treat with me?!
Me: I didn't know I was invited.
AS: I invite Alan!
Me: I didn't realize that I was automatically invited whenever Alan is invited. 



Mexican Jumping Beans

You say Mexican, I say
Mexington...
I recently did a two-part lesson with the entire school involving Mexican Jumping Beans. I didn't tell them that they'd be getting Mexican Jumping Beans, all I said was that we were going to be studying a "mystery object". The first day was the introduction of the Mystery Object. And for some, that was enough to get them guessing...

Me: Next class we're going to observe a mystery object that's related to Spanish.
Boy 1: It's a stick!
Boy 2: It's a robot!
Me: How are either of those things Spanish?

This question is legit. "If they
were a monster, would they
eat us?" Be prepared.
All we did that first day was work on being Spanish scientists and working on making observations and then coming up with questions about the Mystery Object. Obviously most of the questions centered around why the Mystery Object could move on its own. I decided it would be hilarious to ask the kids to give some ideas as to why the objects could move...

  • They're turtle eggs. Yea! Baby turtles!
  • There's a small animal inside...like a dinosaur!
  • It's fighting grasshoppers.
  • I think they're baby squirrel eggs.
  • They're little springs with robots

There was also a story that we read on the second day of the lesson called Lucas and His Loco Beans. The older students had to follow along and try to figure out what the Spanish words in the story meant. One girl hit the nail right on the head with her definition of loco. Those beans were cracra for reals.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

November 4, 2013

It's certainly been a whirlwind lately! My classes for my principal cohort are winding down whereas the work for the projects in those classes is picking up. My mom was also out of town for about 10 days which [naturally] coincided with a super busy time for me. I've got what feels like a stockpile of quotes here!

Let's start things off with some gems from M. Specifically things I've overheard her say to other teachers...

-I've had a headache all year.
-Oh my gosh, the boss makes you write a lot! (Observing how much documentation our reading teacher has to do)
-I got to run in the road last night because my mamaw let the dog out and I ran around and around and my mamaw threw a bacon bit through my hand [yes, through] and he finally licked me. He had to go to the restroom.

And now a conversation I had with M...

Me: Are you dressing up for character dress up day, M?
M: Well, I have a mermaid costume but I'm pretty sure it's inappropriate. [Note: she did wear the costume and it was not inappropriate]

First grade has been serving up some quality quotes as of late...

-Guess what? I was born on my birthday.

-Do you want to know something really awesome, something awesomer, or both? You know all the stuff they have at Gatti Town? There's goo in a cup and it makes a fart noise. It's called fart goo and it's awesome.

-Guess what? I'm your bestest #1 fan ever because I love Spanish!

Me: Man J, my arms are tired.
J: Good. Me: You're glad my arms are tired?
J: You could work out.
Me: That's disgusting. Why would I want to do that?
J: I don't know, go home and take a nap.
Me: Good plan. Will you teach the rest of my classes?
J: No.
Me: Seriously? Come on. You speak Spanish. It's just second grade.

Whereas third grade typically says or does things that puzzle me...

Girl: My legs hurt.
Me: I'm sorry.
Girl: I went to Indiana.
Me: And that made your legs hurt?
Girl: I played softball there.
Me: Oh, that makes more sense. I thought Indiana just made people's legs hurt.

-I had to stop a third grade boy from serenading his class with Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines".

Girl: Trick-or-Treating is changed to tomorrow night.
Me: Really? I didn't know that. Probably because I'm too old to go.
Girl: Nope. You don't watch the news.
Me: Well, no I don't do that either.

Discussing Day of the Dead in kindergarten...

Girl: I don't celebrate Day of the Dead. It's not on my calendar.

A fifth grade boy makes an excellent point...

Boy: If you're a teacher do you guys get paid a lot of money?
Me: Ha! Noooo.
Boy: How do you not make a lot of money? If you work with kids, I mean?

A fourth grade boy (and son of a teacher) keeps it real in regards to what he'd do for me...

-I love you and I'd do anything to save you.

Boy: I love Miss Black and I'm going to marry her.
His mom: Well she's already got a pretty serious boyfriend.
Boy: I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.

One thing about teaching is that kids love to tell you about their interests. The only problem is, they assume that you know all about them too. Nine times out of ten I have no idea what the hell they're talking about. But I just listen and nod because they're very enthusiastic and most of the time it ends up being perfect blog material. For example, this situation in fourth grade...

Boy 1: So there's these monsters and the girl monster is bigger than the boy monster. The boy monster is like this big and the girl monster is like this big. The boy monster eats pigeons and small owls and the girl monster eats cats.
Boy 2: Household cats. [Note: thank you for clearing up the fact that it's not feral cats, I was worried]
Boy 1: Yea, household cats. And when the girl monster is mad she can breathe fire. And they live--well, they don't live in the toilet but they can come up through the toilet to get you. They live in the sewer. Did I tell you that when the girl monster gets mad she can breathe fire?
Me: Yes, you did.
Boy 1: Well, when the boy monster gets mad he grows walrus tusks--except like, nice. [Note: so not crappy tusks] Me: So, are these in a book or something?
Boy 1: No. Real life.
Me: I had no idea.