Monday, April 21, 2014

April 21, 2014

We've really entered the home stretch in terms of the school year. The only day off we have between now and the end of the year is for Primary Elections at the end of May. And we've got an extra 15 minutes added on to the school day in order to keep us from having a bazillion makeup snow days. The 15 minutes doesn't change my schedule, but somehow it just makes things seem weird.

The big Spanish Art & Culture Night was a huge success! All the kids' art looked great hanging up in the halls and they could all talk about what they had learned. I think we had between 40-50 families, which is a pretty good turnout considering the fact that kids have all sorts of practices and clubs and parents have work, etc.

On to the quotes!

What's love got to do with it? Why don't you tell me, first grade boy?

1st Grade Boy: When she broke up with me, I felt terrible.
Me: What? Who's breaking up with you? You're in the first grade.

Learning about pets in third grade...

Me: Are there any pets that y'all have that aren't on the list?
Girl: I have 2 dogs and I don't know what language they speak.
Me: Well, we already have dog on the list. And also, they're dogs. They don't speak a language...they speak dog.

Speaking of all the art hanging up in the hallways, one of the pieces fell down this morning while I was on morning duty and here's what happened...

1st Grade Boy (T): Miss Black, this fell down.
Me: Thanks, T. I'll come get it. (Meanwhile, his brother--let's call him C, fixed it)
T: C put it back up. He didn't want to ruin your job. Because then who would be our Spanish teacher?
(So I guess in his mind, I get fired when things fall off the walls)

Speaking of losing jobs...

4th Grade Girl: Why was you crying the other day?
Me: Oh, I just got some bad news about something.
Girl: They ain't trying to kick you out, are they? I'll write a complaint letter to that office right now. Gimme some paper. (I just stared at her, I think my jaw was on the floor) Fine, I'll write it on this (Spanish worksheet). No, I can't do that. They'd probably expel me for that.
Me: I don't think they'd expel you for that, sweetie.

Our conversation quickly switched to the actual assignment at hand once she realized I wasn't going to divulge anything about my crying. She was working on an assignment where animals were described in Spanish and the kids had to figure out what animal was being described. So she's readings the phrases, figuring out what they mean in English and then figuring out the answer...

Girl: "Yo soy cafe y me gusta comer bellotas." So it's brown and it likes to eat acorns. Squirrel! You shouldn't have put acorns, Miss Black. That gave it away.
Me: I suppose it did.
Girl: "Yo vivo en la granja y hajo huevos." OK, the farm...and eggs. CHICKEN! Eggs made it too easy. Miss Black, see you shouldn't have put these words like acorns, eggs, and milk. It gives it away.
Me: You know what? I think you're right. That does make the answer pretty obvious, doesn't it?

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Where Did Spring Break Go?

You'd think I would've had tons of time to catch up on my blogging over spring break, wouldn't you? Normally you'd be right, but this year I've been working round the clock to prepare my Spanish Art & Culture Night this week. I'm inviting parents to come and see what we've been doing in Spanish class and it's required a lot of preparation and work. I'm not joking when I say it's taken my entire break.

One day I was fairly certain I heard a kindergarten boy saying something about pina coladas...

Me: Did you say pina colada to me?
Boy: No, I was asking him about pina coladas.

On our last day of learning about flags of Spanish-speaking countries one of the first grade girls asked a very important question...

Girl: Do any of the flags have pink in them?
Me: No. I'm sorry.
Girl: What about purple?
Me: I don't think so. You'll find that pink and purple are really under-represented when it comes to flags.

A first grade boy shows his gratitude...

L: Miss Black, I'm real glad you teach me Spanish. (He then grabbed my hand and gave me a very serious handshake and ran away. Then he ran back up to me, very excited.) I play this video game, it's a police game and I catched so many bad guys! (And then he ran away again).

This same boy kept it pretty real when the superintendent came to visit our school...

L: Soo, who are you? Dr. Seuss?

Family "field trips"...

1st Grade Boy: I want to go to China on a field trip with my family.

This whole conversation started because I was telling a few fourth grade boys that I've been able to travel to a lot of different countries around the world...

Boy 1: Have you ever been to the moon?
Me: What?
Boy 1: Have you ever been to the moon?
Me: No, I can't say as I have.
Boy 1: Oh. My friend has.
Me: Really? Well I have heard that at some point they think regular people will be able to travel to the moon for vacations and stuff. I don't think I'd want to go though.
Boy 1: I wouldn't want to live on the moon because what if something happened and it blew up?
Boy 2: I wouldn't want to live on the moon because gravity would probably mess with you. You know they say Neil Armstrong wasn't the first man to walk on the moon. They say it was fake.
Me: Well, either way, I'm making the decision right now to not travel to the moon.

Unfortunately I was not present for these fantastic messages from Planet Unicorn on Saint Patrick's Day (Oh dear Lord, is that how long it's been since I've had the chance to update?!)...

  • When will the leprechauns and gingerbread men get here?
  • If I found a pot of gold I would buy a cool monster truck.

As long as I'm quoting first grade girls, this one is fantastic!

Girl 1: Your pants have polka dots! I love them! Buy me some! Or let me share those. We wear the same size.
Me: We do? I'm pretty sure we don't.
Girl 1: Really? Buy you're so small!
Me: And you're my new favorite person in the world!
Girl 2: What about me?
Me: Well...sorry.

Fourth grade boys discussing their futures...

Boy 1: Being brilliant can get you in trouble.
Boy 2: How?
Boy 1: Like if you hack into a computer system and get arrested.
Boy 2: Well I'm going to be an archaeologist for the Smithsonian Institute so if they have me hack into something and I get caught, I'll just show them the patch the Smithsonian gives me. And you'd better believe they'll give me a patch.

A third grade boy renames me and tells me to leave...

Me: Next time we'll keep working on our Inca Sun God masks and we should get them finished.
Boy: OK, I think it's time for you to go now. Bye Miss Mysterious.

And before I end this post and go to bed, I'm going to leave you with the lovely note a fifth grade boy gave me on my birthday. 
Yep. I was fired. For real. And on my birthday no less. 

Stay tuned for pictures from the Spanish Art & Culture Night!!