Pancakes!

Over the past couple of days - school was dismissed at 11:40am because of finals at the high school.  In order to count as a full day, we need to serve the students lunch.  This means all students had to get bagged lunches and eat in the classrooms.  While they were eating, I turned on The Price is Right, because if it's between 11:00-12:00 on a weekday, that's what you watch.

We were watching for a while when an automatic pancake maker showed up as one of the prizes.  All of the kids were very impressed by this piece of machinery.

"You should get one of those!" Herman exclaimed with excitement, "Then on two hour delays, you could pop out a few for us to eat."

I'll get right on that...especially since the machine cost $3500.

Where do boys go?

Georgeann was working with her students on constructing Diamantes (diamond shaped poems) in Language Arts Class.  Hattie decided to write her poem about boys and girls and their differences.  Right off the bat, this doesn't sound like a good idea.  She started writing her poem and put down that girls go to the mall, but then she got stuck.

"Where do boys go?" she wondered, "Oh, I know! The Gentleman's Club!"

Dr. Monroe

I gave a quiz today on the Panama Canal and that time period in America.  During that time, the Monroe Doctrine added to with the Roosevelt Corollary.  The Monroe Doctrine had said that European nations should not mess with the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.

The quiz was matching terms to defintions. One of my students had written in little reminders next to the terms so that he wouldn't forget.  Next to Monroe Doctrine he wrote "doctor who helped with diseases in Panama."  When he did the matching, he decided on the right option, so he must have rethought that through!

Family Movie

Molly was having a conversation with one of her students before the day started.  "Are you doing anything fun tonight?" she asked.

Herman replied, "Oh yeah!. I'm really excited for tonight.  I'm going to get my homework done right after school."

"Oh," said Molly, "What's the special occasion?"

"It's family movie night!" Herman replied, excitedly.

"That's great! What movie are you watching together?" Molly wondered.

"Craig's List Killer." was his reply.

Pennsylvania

Today my students had to write to their epals about the climate and landforms around us.  There were many incorrect things written such as living close to the Ohio Hills and the Appilation (yes, that's how it was spelled) mountains.

My favorite though, were the four, not just one, but four students who described our climate as mediterranean.  Apparently, my idea of mediterranean is a little bit different than theirs.

Armageddon

Hattie approached my desk this morning and asked if I had watched the news recently.

"I listened to the news on my way to work this morning," was my reply.

"Did you hear about all of those dead birds?" she asked me, referring to the thousands of red-winged blackbirds that had been found dead in Arkansas. See here

"Yes I did," I responded, "Pretty strange, huh?"

"No," she replied nonchalantly, "It's just the end of days."

Oh...

New way to submit!

If you take a look up at the top of the blog ^ you'll now see a link that says Submit a story now! This will take you to a form to fill in quickly and easily so you don't need to worry about emailing.  Also, you can choose whether or not you'd like your submission to be anonymous!

Hope everyone had a happy holiday! :)

*Wink*

Today was our annual Holiday Party.  Jason, Amy, Meredith and I were out in the hallway getting things set up as students were coming into homerooms.  Once girl from another homeroom came out to go to the bathroom.

"Hattie!" Jason yelled, as per his usual greeting.

"Hey, gorgeous," was Hattie's reply.  Not quite what we were expecting.

Whales Blow

I had my students working in centers a couple of days ago.  Hattie was working on a center of Main Idea and Supporting Details.  Her main idea was "Whales blow."  She did have supporting details to go with it though.  Some of those were: "Whales can be identified by the size of their blows." "Right Whales make 2 low blows with their twin blow wholes." "The sperm whale makes a blow that is angled forward." :)

Mouth Filter

Some students are blessed with the ability to think before they speak.  Most, though, are not.  Molly overheard the following conversation between one of these non-filtered students, Herman, and another student, Hattie had been absent for several days.

"Why were you out so long?" Herman asked.
"I was sick," Hattie replied and continued on with her work.
Henry wasn't satisfied, "No, but how were you sick?"
Hattie thought for a moment, "I just didn't feel good."
Henry still wasn't satisfied, "Throwing up? Diarrhea? What?"
Hattie got very red and went back to her work.
"Come on. What did you have?" Herman continued.

At this point, Molly stepped in and explained that, although she was glad he was worried about the health of his fellow student, it wasn't appropriate to ask anyone those questions.  He apologized for being "too intrusive".

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Tonight is the first winter solstice lunar eclipse in centuries.  Currently, my students are talking about the moon and its phases in science class.  One of my students was very excited when he came over to see me after science.

"Did you know there's a lunar eclipse tonight?" Herman asked me, "The moon will be red and everything."

"What makes it red?" I asked him.

"I don't know.  It must be embarassed 'cause everyone's looking at it or something." he replied.

Oh Canada!

Today we were making a video to send to our Canadian ePals.  We had written the scripts and practiced on previous days to be ready for today's shoot.  I tod them to get what they needed because we were ready to head to our locations.

"Wait!" Henrietta shouted, "I have to go the bathroom and fix my hair.  I can't have people in Canada thinking I look like this! I'm representing America."

Truth about Pregnancy

Molly's student, Herman, just became a big brother.  "Do you know it hurts really bad?" he asked her upon returning to school, "Like really, really bad?"
"Oh really?" was her response.
"Yeah," he said, "You guys [meaning women] can keep doing that for a while.  We [men] don't want it."

Good use of simile...

Clare was teaching her students about the Makah tribe. They're a whaling tribe that will sing to the whales before they kill them.  In their song they promise them gifts for the sacrifice they are making for the tribe.  Herman raised his hand and added: "That's like giving exercise equipment to a paralyzed person."

Just Not Getting It...

A teacher was taking his class on a field trip the following day, and was going over ground rules with them.  Herman, a student who wasn't going on the trip because have behavioral issues, kept raising his hand to ask questions.
"Can we bring fried chicken for lunch?"
"You could if you were going, Herman, but since you're not, maybe you could bring it for your school lunch instead."
Herman had another question, "Ok, but can I bring my CD player for the bus?"
"If you were going, you could, but you're not.  This doesn't apply to you."
"I know, but should I wear jeans or my church pants?"
Exasperated, his teacher responded, "Herman, you may wear jeans tomorrow because you're going to be staying at school, not going on the trip."
The next day, he showed up with his fried chicken, and his CD player, wearing his fancy church pants - all to sit in the in school suspension room for the day.

Thanks Georgeann!

Silent Lunch Part 2

As I said before, Silent Lunch is our Lunch Detention.  It's for things like verbal bullying, horseplay, inappropriate language, etc.  Occasionally, though, there are some Silent Lunch reasons that go above and beyond :)

Here are a couple more:

"Hattie received a silent lunch for using glue on her belly button while riding on the bus." Maybe it was falling off?

Henrietta's reason: "Using inapproprate language about Herman to Helen."
Helen's reason: "Repeated inappropriate language from Henrietta to Herman to cause a disruption."

Inventions of the Year

My kids get the weekly magazine: Time for Kids.  These weeks edition was about the Best Inventions of 2010.  It featured things like the Superhero Suit, the Hardworking Robot, and eLegs.  Herman's favorite invention, though was the AirPod.  A air powered car that doesn't pollute. 

"I'm gonna get one of those when I get older," he told me.  "It'd be nice to have around the house.  I could run to the store and it would cost like 10 cents.  If I take a car, it probably takes $1 to go all the way to the store.  This would save me so much money."

Achoo!

When I sneeze, I tend to sneeze loudly and several in a row.  I've always been that and I'll always be that way.  It often takes my students a couple of weeks to figure that out.  They'll start off saying "Bless you" after each one, but eventually they realize to just wait, it'll be awhile.  Earlier in the year, I was teaching a lesson and could feel sneezes coming on.  I sneezed 5 or 6 times in a row pretty loudly and looked up to a stun class. 

"You sneeze a lot," Herman said after a couple seconds.  "It's kinda scary....could you warn us the next time that's going to happen?"

Things They Don't Teach You in College

There are some things that teachers have to learn while working in the classroom.  One of those things is how to hide your laughter.  Bethann learned this recently as she was discussing Toy Story 3 with her 6th grade students.  She was explaining to them how excited she was to see the final movie because her children had grown up watching the original.  The students weren't exactly sure what movie she was talking about until she started naming characters like Rex, Mr. Potatohead, and Buzz Lightyear.  Herman's face lit up with recognition as he proclaimed, "I remember that movie.  I have a little Woody!"

This is the point where you bite your lip and turn your head. :)

Christmas Presents from 6th Graders

In Clare's room, she has a classroom store where students can earn "money" throughout the year and buy certain things - erasers, stickers, pencils and more!  Around Christmas time last year, she reminded her students that they could buy presents for their friends and family in the classroom store as well.  Herman was checking out the supply and suggested to Clare that they buy a weed wacker to include as one of the items.  "To do yard work?" she wondered. "For my mom's pits." he replied.