Christmas cheer

Third graders are pretty easy to please, for the most part, but especially at Christmastime! I found this out at the beginning of the month when I put up a total of three Christmas/winter decorations:

a string of lights,

a little snowman,

and a penguin cookie jar.

But when the students walked in that first day, you should have heard them exclaim over those three items. You would've thought I'd spent hours decorating.

Since we had school today - two days before Christmas, I didn't make them work too hard. We spent a lot of time doing activities to remind us of the real meaning of Christmas - Jesus! I had also told them before the party in the afternoon that they would have to clean out their desks (because they desperately needed it). Surprisingly, all morning they kept asking if was time to clean out their desks yet! Afterwards, one boy was so pleased with his clean desk, he said, "I can't wait till we come back from Christmas vacation!"

I gave each of them a gift. I usually get the same thing every year - an inexpensive art kit:

The students were thrilled. (Even though some of them informed me they knew that's what I was giving, because I give it every year.) Before opening it, some boys thought maybe it was Legos. I was happy to hear that the art kit was "much better than Legos!"

I also got my share of gifts from my students. (Good news for my sweet tooth.) The thing that melted my heart the most was a homemade card from a sweet girl. She told me that I'm the best teacher ever and to keep up the good work and to have a wonderful Christmas. Then underneath her signature, she wrote, "go to the back." And on the back it said, "I love you, Miss Weaver."

Praying all of you are blessed this Christmas season as much I already have been. And amidst the gifts and the decorations and the cards and the time spent together, let us not forget the best gift ever:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Thankful for clothes (and other things)

Thanksgiving? Yes, please! Not only is Thanksgiving a great time to stop and think about all that we have to be thankful for (more on that later), but it's a much needed break for teachers to catch our breath before the next insanely busy 3-4 weeks before Christmas.

And I do have so much to be thankful for, one of those things being my students! They light up my life and make it interesting.

We started learning multiplication in math class, and I gave them flashcards to cut out. One girl was cutting them out extra carefully, and it delighted me to hear her say to another student, "I'm being so careful because I'm going to keep them and someday when I have kids, I'm going to tell them about how we made flashcards, and I'm going to make them use them!"

The boys talk about cars. A lot. Usually about which car is the fastest and the type of engines they have. I'm ignorant - I can't even pronounce some of the cars they talk about. I guess the girls are in the same boat as me, but the boys are not so understanding if they don't know what kind of engine the fastest car has. "Everyone should know that!" one boy proclaimed in disbelief.

Another thing the boys do is "drum" by tapping their pencils on their desks. It drives me nuts, and often I'll stop in the middle of whatever we're doing and say, "STOP TAPPING YOUR PENCILS!!"  One day one of the boys responded by saying, "I wasn't tapping a pencil." (It was an eraser.) I said, trying to choose my words carefully, "Don't be smart." I knew that was a bad choice of words as soon as they were out of my mouth. I was hoping no one noticed.  But immediately another boy turned to the classmate next to him and said in fake disbelief, "We can't be smart?!"

Any teacher will understand that when one person tells a story, it triggers 10 more hands in the air to tell their stories. Same goes for prayer requests. One day this week we were praying for five people with hurt fingers.

Yes, much to be thankful for. A job. The opportunity to influence these students' lives. The joy I get from doing what I love. Thanksgiving break. :)

I asked the students to write in their journals today about what they are thankful for. One boy wrote this: "I am thankful for the closts (clothes), food, house, and water because we born nakied..." Yes, we were. Add clothes to the list!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Time flies when you're having fun

Wow, I haven't posted in a month! Where is the year going?!

We've been keeping busy as usual in the third grade. The normal battles continue to be fought (especially with the boys).

"Keep your hands to yourself."

"Sit in your chair the correct way, please." (When they tip back on two legs. Or when they kneel on their chairs with their feet in the air. Or when they randomly stand up and turn their chairs around and sit on them backwards in the middle of class.)

"Keep your hands to yourself."

"Keep your hands to yourself. I don't care if it's a game you've invented called 'banana touch.' KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF."

"Please don't spike your sweaty hair. (What would your mom think?)"

"Oh, you brought a mustache to school?" :)

"Wait a few minutes until recess and then you can go to the bathroom."... "You don't have to go anymore? Hmmm..."

And then there are always the amusing comments.

"Please, God, let it snow a lot today."

Looking at a distorted picture of herself in the school newspaper, one very unimpressed girl commented, "They did something to my head to make it big."

And always the entertaining lunch conversation:

"I keep getting wedgies."
"My dad loves wedgies."
"Who likes wedgies?"
"Did you ever have a wedgie war?"
(Finally the teacher had to step in and stop that conversation from going any farther.)

My favorite laugh-out-loud moment happened this week when I was asking the class for suggestions for the prize box. They suggested a few things which made me ask, "Really? Would you actually pick that?" ...like a balloon, or a jolly rancher. I mean, it takes them a month to fill up their sticker charts. Anyway. The laugh-out-loud moment came when one boy, who had just happened to be at the dentist the day before, suggested floss. I expect that my class will soon have very clean teeth, as the floss begins to fly out of the prize box. ;)

Boys will be boys

If you want to be entertained, just spend some time with third graders. You will be.

I may have a future nurse in my class. The class was cleaning up and getting ready for lunch, when I looked over and saw a boy pretending his lead pencil was a syringe. He had the lead sticking up, and he was flicking it and everything. I couldn't even be serious when I told him to put it away. It was too cute.

The best entertainment times are definitely at lunch. (When they probably have no idea I'm listening.)

Yesterday I was quite entertained listening to a bunch of 8-year-old boys talk about slow dancing! You can imagine, I'm sure.

"Did you have to hold her hands?" 

Nods head.

"You DID??? Ewww!" 

My favorite part of that conversation was when the boy finished by saying, "I'm just glad I wasn't the groom!"

You know boys - they pretend to be all rough and tough even if they don't feel it. So they were talking about not feeling anything when they got hurt. One got hit in the eye today at recess with a soccer ball, and I overheard him say, "I can't believe I didn't even feel anything when the ball hit me right in the eye and I fell down!" But one of the girls piped up in a no-nonsense way, "Then why were you crying?"

Let me know if you want to have lunch with us someday. :)

Good self-esteem, humility, and laughs

My students provide me with many things: a good self-esteem, a good dose of humility, and always a good laugh.

One morning last week, one of my boys walked into the classroom, looked at me, and said, "Well, you look pretty today!" Awww :)

One day I heard something vibrating. After finding out that it was a student's phone, I very firmly told him it must be turned OFF during school and if it happens again I'll have to take it and turn it into the principal. Not five minutes later we all heard a vibrating sound again. The students all turned their heads and looked accusingly at this boy. The poor boy put his hands in the air and said, "It's not mine! I turned mine off!" This time, however, it was coming from my corner of the room. Should I have turned my phone into the principal?

One boy was writing an answer to a question of what he wants to be someday. He asked me how to spell "catter pratter." I asked him to repeat it several times before I finally understood when he said, "Someone who cracks your back."
"Ohhh, a chiropractor!"

I am so glad to know that my students are dedicated to their school work! One morning one of my girls came to me and told me that she woke up at 11:30 the night before and remembered she hadn't done her homework. So she closed her parents' bedroom door so they wouldn't hear her, sneaked downstairs, and did it! She didn't tell them the next morning either so she wouldn't get in trouble! I suggested if it happens again maybe she could just set her alarm clock a little early. After all, I don't want her getting in trouble with her parents because she did her homework!

Speaking of girls, my class size is slowly but surely growing! We now have 15 students, and much to the girls' delight, two more girls! The boys tried to complain, but they still outnumber the girls 2 to 1!

Boxes and beavers

I'm sure every teacher can relate to this scenario:
I just finished going over directions and explaining their language worksheet. "Are there any questions?"
A hand shoots up. "Yes?"
"Are you going to the parade tonight?"
"Are there any questions about the language paper?"

...and this one too.
The directions on the language page said "Write a sentence using the plural form of box." We even discussed it and I wrote the word boxes on the board. But apparently some of them were too busy thinking about the parade and such.

We pay taxes.

Some rivers are large.

Oh dear.

For science, the students were identifying mammals and holding up picture cards as I gave clues. When I said, "This is a gnawing mammal that I had in my house and tried very hard to get rid of," I was suddenly staring at 13 beavers. "No, I did not have a beaver in my house." :)

 

This & that

It's October already? I found myself writing the date as 9 10/1/13 today.

My birthday seems like a long time ago already, but I should let you know that all of the students' clues did not disappoint! It was a special day from the "Happy birthday!"s I got from students first thing in the morning to the fourth grade girls coming to the door and singing "Happy Birthday" to the "surprise" party with moms and cake and ice cream and balloons and cards! And when my students figured out that I turned 29, and I said, "I'm getting old!" it was nice to hear them say, "You're not old a bit! You're still only 20-something!" :) (I guess I better enjoy this year.) I even received a sweet belated birthday card today from one of my boys. I knew it was going to be good when I saw the "Be mine" sticker on the envelope. He wrote, "You are such a nice teach and that I really like being in third grade!" Made my day.

Despite all of the birthday celebrations, we have been learning some things, too. I hope. We just finished a unit on Ancient Greece in Social Studies. When I told them about Plato, they started laughing, and I had to explain his name was not "Play-doh", but P-l-a-t-o. A few days later, we were reviewing, and I asked who was Socrates' student. One boy said, "...Clay??" :)

Today was picture day. All of the boys looked extra nice with button-down shirts and combed hair. I overheard one of them telling another student, "I even had to wash my face this morning!"

I'm reading aloud Trumpet of the Swan. Imagine reading a book about falling in love (swans or otherwise) to a third grade class of mostly boys. Let's just say there was some uncomfortable giggling and nudges and glances. Maybe that's why I like to be extra dramatic when reading those gushy parts.

If anyone out there is missing a metal teaspoon, one showed up in our classroom. It doesn't belong to anyone. Yes, some of them had a spoon in their lunches, but of course all of them remembered to put it back in their lunchbox, and none of them have spoons like that at home! So apparently it just appeared out of thin air. I should ask the moms.

Birthday suspense

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I think my students are more excited than I am. Which makes me nervous. What do their mothers have up their sleeves? But, oh, how I love my sweet students! On Monday I made a comment about how this should be a normal week; nothing too exciting or unusual is going on. One boy raised his hand and said, "Your birthday is on Friday. That's exciting!" I replied, "I didn't even think of that, and you did." (Hmm, interesting.)

Then this morning one girl said, "We went shopping last night!" She had just been talking about the sweater she was holding, so I said, "Oh, is that sweater new?" And she said, "No, we bought your gift!" Later she volunteered to pray at the beginning of the day and she prayed that I would have a good birthday tomorrow.

Fast forward to lunch time. One of my boys came up to me and said, "Can I tell you something?"
 "Yes!"
"People are going to bring you gifts. I know it."
Smile. "Are you supposed to tell me that?" I whispered.
"Oh, well, I don't know... if they're bringing them... you know."
I let him off the hook and didn't ask any  more questions. But another boy, overhearing this, asked, "When is your birthday? Oh! Tomorrow! TOMORROW IS YOUR BIRTHDAY!"

Well, no matter what tomorrow brings, I'm looking forward to spending it with my students!

Interviews & sincere prayers

Today I overheard an older student interviewing one of my former students. The conversation went like this:

"What's the most exciting thing you did this summer?"
"I have no idea."
"Did you go on vacation?"
"Yeah, I guess." (Runs off.)

Haha, I don't think he got the information he wanted for the school newspaper article!

I love listening to kids pray. Especially when they don't care about other people listening. They're so sincere and heartfelt. I talked a little bit about how we should pray for our president, and then asked for volunteers to pray. One boy prayed this: "Dear God, I pray for President Obama... that he could... ... do... his paperwork... or... whatever he does... I don't really know."

I mean, honestly, who really does know what exactly the president does? Amen!

It's September already?

Well, we're gearing up for our first full week of school! I've really been enjoying the year so far. Last Thursday, the calendar person announced the date at the beginning of the day, and one boy said, "Wait, it's September?" Haha, my feelings exactly, buddy! At the end of the day, he said, "It's the end of the day already?" Maybe he's not the most time-conscious person, but I'm taking it as a good thing!

I can tell the students are comfortable with their new teacher and classroom when:

• Two different times during Reading class in the same day, two different students were completely kneeling on the floor by their desks... trying to clean up the floor it looked like. Let's try that at break time! 
• One student had his jacket wrapped completely around his head... I have no reason for that one. 

And tomorrow I look forward to welcoming a new student! So my 12 increases to 13. And now the girls are outnumbered 3 to 10!! Say a prayer for them. :) 

Lectures & Math class dramatics

I found my strict side coming out today. (I hope they still think I'm nice!) I pretty much lectured on everything from trying to find answers in your books before asking me for help to "you are responsible for your papers, not your Mom" to proper hand sanitizer use (that sounds familiar, right? Let's just say there were globs of it where it shouldn't have been). I have to remind myself that they don't know all my expectations yet, and so I have to patiently remind them. Patiently is the key. God's still working with me on that!  

I also found myself getting dramatic during Math class. Now, I'm not usually prone to the dramatic side, but as I asked questions and saw glazed over faces and when everyone kept asking me the same question that I had just answered, I started speaking in a loud, high-pitched voice, pacing, and waving my arms. Bet you would've liked to see that, huh? Sorry, just bored third graders. 

On a more humorous note, I enjoyed eavesdropping on their lunch conversations today, which ranged from midgets to the largest lollipop in the world. Kids are the best. 

My teacher reputation

So I found out through another teacher that students say I'm "nice, but strict." I think that's a pretty perfect reputation for a teacher to have! I'm actually a little thrilled by it. I wonder - do I have last year's class to thank for that? :) I do miss them!

One day last week I was walking down the hallway to talk to one of the fourth graders, and one of the fourth grade girls stopped me. She was getting a snack out of her backpack, and she insisted that I take one of her favorite cookies! I tried to say no, but then I couldn't resist, because she was being so sweet. This is how much I love her: a. The cookie wasn't part of my diet. b. I didn't ask her if she washed her hands and I didn't have time to sanitize mine! But I ate it anyway. :)

Also last week, we gave a reward to all the students in the elementary grades who completed their summer math packets. The ones that didn't got to stay with me (the nice, strict teacher). One of the fourth grade boys made me smile, as he brought back memories of last year. They had been in my room at least half an hour at this point. I was quietly having a conversation with another student when suddenly (from across the room) his head pops up from the book he was reading and he says, "Who? What? When?..." Then he starts looking around the classroom noticing for the first time the things that had changed from last year. No wonder I was tired. I pray for the fourth grade teacher!

Quiet beginnings

The first full week of school is over already? It just sort of slid right by. I feel so relaxed and rested!

The week started out very quiet! It was so odd for me when the students walked in in the morning and took break barely making any noise at all! I found myself almost saying, "You can talk to each other." But then I figured I'd enjoy the quiet, and they'd eventually warm up and need to be reminded to be quiet. I was right. By the end of the week, there was much more chatter going on! :) But I have a feeling they'll continue to surprise me. Like today when I assigned a Math worksheet before break and said I'd give them time after break to work on it, but that it wouldn't be homework. "Can't we work on it during break?" they asked. Wow.

However, I was a little concerned when the first homework assignment was due on Wednesday and already 2 out of my 12 students didn't have it done! On the bright side, my new homework log was not made in vain!

I thought, "Oh boy, it must be time for the responsibility lesson." But since then, everyone has handed in their homework every day! They must be adjusting to third grade!

Although there's not so many crazy things happening in my classroom every day like last year (ergo the rested and relaxed state I'm in ;) ), the students still amuse me with random comments. When they found out I went to school with another teacher they know, one said, "I didn't know you go that far back!" And when another teacher walked into our room one day, someone said to her, "You look bigger than last year!" (She doesn't, by the way!)

I already received several encouraging notes from parents of my students. It's so amazing knowing that they are entrusting their children to me and that I have their support! So after this first wonderful week of school, I am just really looking forward to all that the year will bring and spending time with and getting to know each student in my small class!

Goodbye summer! Hello school!

I can already tell this is going to be a fun year. My students were talkative and happy and cooperative!

I had to smile inside when I found myself - within the first half hour of school - saying things like, "Please walk!" "Raise your hand if you have something to say." "Keep your hands to yourself!" They must forget this stuff over the summer. So we said goodbye to summer and hello to school!

We each wrote something we liked about the summer and something we're looking forward to in the school year. (Also Pinterest-inspired!) Most of them are looking forward to things like "field trips," "friends" and "gym," which are all good things to be excited about. But I was thrilled to also see "times" (multiplication), "handwriting," and "Book-It"!

I think I'll have some helpful little teachers this year as well. One boy, looking at the schedule, kept asking questions like, "Is it time for break yet?" "When is our treasure hunt?" At one point I said,  "You have to be patient." Another student turned around and said to him, "Patience is a virtue." Indeed. I think that was my favorite moment of the day. :) Looking forward to many more!

Ready or not, here they come!

Wow, wasn't it just yesterday I was saying goodbye to my students? Now tomorrow I'll be saying hello to a whole new batch! (Is it okay to group students in "batches"?)

What a refreshing summer it's been, though! I am blessed to be able to say I feel recovered, refreshed, and re-energized! And this year I look forward to having 12 students instead of 25! What a change that will be!

My classroom proves that I've had plenty of time to browse Pinterest this summer. :)

One quick story (a reminder of how much I'll miss last year's students!):
Those of you who know me well know that it would appear I have a bladder the size of a pea, seeing as I need to "use the facilities" quite frequently. Therefore, I plan my bathroom trips carefully on days at school. A parent of one of my students from last year told me that a couple of weeks ago at dinner one night, he randomly said, "My teacher never had to go to the bathroom last year!" HA! You have to wonder what thought process triggered that thought to pop into his head!

I'm excited for another entertaining year and all that it will hold! (Although I can't promise you the same caliber of stories as last year!)

End of the year thoughts

When people asked me how my school year was going, I usually answered, "Challenging." It was the best word I could come up with. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't easy either. There were good times, lots of fun times, moments of laughter, times of frustration (okay, many times of frustration!), and many exhausting days! So as the year came to a close today, I feel a mixture of emotions:

• a sense of accomplishment for surviving!
•  gratefulness for the many people who have prayed me through the year, specifically for my wonderful mom who sent me an encouraging email every day with an inspirational quote and a loving reminder that she was praying :) 
• thankfulness for the time God gave me to get to know my 25 unique and precious students and for the chance to pour into their lives 
• sadness because my time with them is over 
• happiness for all the growth I've seen in them throughout the year and that they are indeed ready to move on to fourth grade 

I told the class some of the things I appreciate about them are their enthusiasm and how they are good friends to each other. It was neat to see them display that by clapping and cheering for each other as I handed out individual certificates of appreciation. I told them that  the hard and challenging times they have as a class can bring them closer together and make them better friends. And as I think back over the year, I realize that one of the reasons I am reluctant to let them go is because the challenges have brought us close together. But like I told them today, I am excited to see how uniquely God will use each of them. 

I read an article in the newspaper last week about a 30-some-year-old man who still writes letters to his third grade teacher and has written two or three times a year since third grade. I told my students about him, and said that if they write me, I'll write back, and who knows? Maybe we'll still be writing when they're 30 years old! :) And then one of them said, "You won't be alive when we're 30!" I sure will miss those one-liners!

End of the year anticipation

I've eagerly been keeping track of the number of school days left along with the students! It's time for summer! As the time draws closer, their attention span is getting shorter, they are getting chattier, and their teacher is getting less patient by the day. The number of items that I need to confiscate during class also seems to be growing:

However, as I sit down and reflect on the past year and my students, it's beginning to hit me that I only have 4 days left with them! And only one of those is a normal day in the classroom. On the last day of school, I give Certificates of Appreciation for something unique that I appreciate about each student from the school year. I've kept my lists from the last two years, and so I thought that it would be fairly easy this year to just assign those to my current students. However, as I sat down to work on it today, I realized that it's not that simple, because each student is special, and each class is unlike any class that came before them. So it was time to hit the thesaurus again. :) It will be hard to say good-bye on Friday, and I will miss each one dearly... from the Exciting Entertainer to the Social Studies Specialist to the Hardworking Hero to the Considerate Encourager... But I am so thankful for the time I've been able to spend with them and get to know them. It's exciting to think about how God will use each one of them as they grow!

Amusing comments to get me through the day

The students were making me laugh today!

In Reading class, I asked, “How many of you have been to a circus?” Many of them raised their hands and had comments about it. One boy replied, “We were going to go to the circus one time, but instead we went to WalMart.”

Later we read a poem and were talking about thunderstorms. One boy told a story about a storm, and as he was speaking at least five more hands went up. I started saying, “We don’t have time…” One student - "Johnny" - didn't let me finish, but he knows me well. I was going to say, "We don't have time for stories right now." Beating me to it, Johnny started furiously waving his hand in the air right in front of my face, chanting, “It’s not a story, it’s not a story, it’s not a story!”
“Johnny,” I started.
“Okay, it’s a story, but-”
Of course the whole class, including myself, started laughing at that!

In Social Studies a few weeks ago I taught the class the word entrepreneur. They had the hardest time saying it, but now that they (at least some of them) can, it comes up at the oddest times. Like the other day I wanted them to remember the word foreshadowing, and someone answered "entrepreneur." Today I asked who the leader of the circus is, looking for the word ringmaster. You guessed it - someone thought he was called an entrepreneur.

In Spelling this week, all their words end with "tion." I was giving them riddles today and they were choosing spelling words to answer them. One riddle was a 3-syllable word that means “exact words.” Johnny was not into this activity, and when I tried to encourage him to find the word, he confidently said, “Oh, I know. It’s lamentation.” Not quite, buddy, especially since that's not one of your spelling words.

Johnny also happened to be the milk person today to get cartons of milk for the class. "How many pieces of milk?" he loudly asked at lunchtime. I smiled to myself and let the other students correct him.  "…whatever they’re called."

Third grade senioritis

Is it possible for third graders to have senioritis? Because I'm convinced mine have it.

Last night I was grading Language papers, and there was one student who did not do so well. When I got to the bottom of his paper, I understood why. He had written, "41 minutes to recess." At least he was putting time-telling skills to use, since obviously he didn't care too much about articles.

Today I made one of my students stay in from recess to get some work done.  When I insisted he finish a Language page, he dramatically proclaimed, "I'd rather you stab me in the back than have to do this worksheet!"

This afternoon instead of fighting, I gave them extra recess. Maybe I'm feeling a little senioritis myself.

15 more days. Although even that's a daily argument about whether we're counting today or not. :)

Strict substitutes & spelling test commentary

I think I need to take more days off. Not only did I go into school today feeling refreshed and re-energized, but my students happily reported to me that they were much better for the substitute than they are for me. And I know this is true, because all the students agreed. They were sure to tell me that everyone even followed along in their Reading books! Of course I was relieved to hear that they had a good day, but, honestly, I was a little exasperated too. "What do I have to do for you to behave like that for me?" I asked. They informed me that she was stricter. I asked for examples, and they told me phrases she said, such as "Eyeballs up here!" and "Zip the lips!" (I'm seriously loving this substitute!) So I thought I'd try out those phrases today. But they just looked at me and said, "No, it doesn't work for you." That may be due partly to the fact that I couldn't say it without laughing. Ah well. They were better for me today too, so the day apart seemed to do us all good.

One quick story from today, though. I gave them their spelling test, and one student graced us with an ongoing commentary. I just went with it today instead of trying to stop it.
"Crumb. The bird ate the crumb off the table."
"A picnic table?"
"Yes."
"Oh, okay."

"Knife. He cut the turkey with a knife."
Gasp. "Was it alive?!"
"No!"

"Wriggle. Don't wriggle in your chair."
"Well I don't know what it means, so I guess I don't do it." (He's perhaps the worst wriggler in the class.)

Tomorrow we're off on a field trip for another adventurous day, I'm sure!

Rules, teeth, & duct tape

Today I was not at school, and I could only pray that my cherubs cooperated for their substitute! There's no telling what went on. Guess I'll find out tomorrow!

Earlier this week, I was reminding the class about the Golden Rule, which is posted in our room and is the basis for all our other rules. (They seem to be needing many reminders about that lately!) As I was talking, one boy blurted out, "What's the silver rule?" I ignored him and kept talking, only to hear him muttering, "And is there a bronze rule?" I pretended not to hear him, but maybe I should have used that as a teaching moment and we could've made up our own silver and bronze rules for the third grade. :)

At snack time one day, a girl walked up to me holding this tiny white piece in her hand and informed me it was part of her tooth. Greeeat.

A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with a boy about why it is not okay to put paper in your mouth in the middle of class (or any other time). I also had to remind him the other day that one of the school rules is no chewing gum. I'm pretty sure he didn't just forget, although he sure seemed surprised when I told him that. Anyway, yesterday I noticed him putting something in his mouth again, so I waited until after that class and pulled him aside.
I asked, "Were you eating paper in class?"
"No."
"Then what did you put in your mouth?"
"Duct tape."
"Duct tape?! Why would you put duct tape in your mouth?"
"Because I needed to throw it away, and you said I couldn't get out of my seat."

Sigh. My life will be so dull this summer. But right now I'm feeling ready for some dullness. :)

The countdown is on!

Apparently we have only 20-some days of school left this year. I'm resisting the countdown, partly because 20-some days is still 20-some days, and I know it will be a struggle to the very end. The other reason I'm resisting is because I'm not quite ready to say good-bye to the little people that I've spent the last 9 months with.

I don't know if it's the spring weather or the end of the year in sight, but the students have been wilder than ever! These are just some of the problems that have arisen over the last two weeks:

• a student putting water in his pencil sharpener during class (only he and the Lord know why)
• 2 boys pointing scissors at each other; another boy pretending to cut another student's hair (You can imagine the lecture I gave about how they should know how to properly use scissors by now!)
• One student kept taking his shoes off whenever he felt like it, no matter how many times I told him he couldn't!
• For the life of me, I absolutely cannot get this one boy to follow along in his reading book when we're reading as a class. Lately whenever it's his turn to read and he doesn't know where we are, he says, "Who, what, when, where...?" It exasperates me, and I think I've just about given up. 
• In the last two weeks, I've had to confiscate several pencil sharpener blades from several different students. (What third grader plays with pencil sharpener blades??) One student got cut by one, but assured me it didn't hurt. 
• At Hot Lunch on Wednesday, one of the boys was out of his chair and running. I stared him down until he sat quietly. One of the moms witnessed this and said, "Wow, you've got the look down pat!" I said, "Yes, I've had a lot of practice this year!"

And then there are the things that come up that just make me laugh. 

• At the beginning of Math class one day, a boy raised his hand. I called on him, and he said, "One plus one equals one." "What do you mean?" I asked. "The Bible says that. When a man and a woman get married." "Um, yes, something like that," I said with a smile. We did not continue that conversation. (He must have been listening to the sermon on Sunday!)
• One girl came up to me one morning and said that she was sick the night before but was better now. She said she read a whole book and felt sick after that and threw up, but she didn't tell anyone. I said, "You mean your mom didn't know you threw up?!" She calmly said, "No, I didn't tell anyone." And she seemed to think reading the book was the cause of her sickness. Needless to say, I immediately started praying that she was better and that no one else would get sick and told her to run to the bathroom if she felt like she was going to throw up again! 
• On a Language worksheet, the students were supposed to write a sentence using the word "sweetest." Here are a couple sentences that made me chuckle: " 'Danny' is the sweetest boy in our class." (I wonder if "Danny" knows that.) "I am not the sweetest in our family." 
• The other day in Reading class, we read a story that had a mountain lion in it. One boy informed us that it was actually a bobcat. He could tell from the picture. I have no idea what the difference is, but he was adamant, and kept correcting me when I said mountain lion. Another boy crossed out mountain lion on his worksheet and replaced it with bobcat. I told them maybe the illustrator just drew the picture wrong, but it really bothered them. 

The Lord also gives me so many sweet moments to get me through the days. One girl wrote in her journal, "When I'm in 4th grade, I'll miss you!" She also gave me a note that said, "You are a great teacher. I love you so-o-o much!" Another sweet girl wrote me a note for no reason except to thank me for being her teacher. 

And so the countdown continues, whether I'm ready for the end of the year or not! 

Who knows what goes on in a child's mind!

As a student I always liked achievement testing. (Is that weird?) And as a teacher, it's kind of a nice break from the usual routine. However, I think all of us were relieved when this week was over. After a whole week of testing, on Friday I was at my wit's end: 

• There were still students making noises and trying to talk to others across the room during testing.
• One student finished the Science section, which was 15 pages long, in less than 10 minutes. 
• One student still didn't realize he wasn't supposed to get out of his seat and wander around the classroom in the middle of the test. 

(However, that was the minority. Most of the students did a really good job!)

What it comes down to is that sometimes, you just have no idea what is going on in a child's mind. For example, I had a student stay in at recess on Friday to finish some work. He kept making noises, no matter how many times I reminded him to be quiet, because the other student in the room was trying to concentrate.  Suddenly (still apparently not aware that he was not being quiet), he piped up, "It would be really funny if you would cry and tears would be streaming down your face and you wouldn't make any noise!" I found this amusing coming from the boy who makes constant noise, so I said, "Yeah, I'd like to see you do that." And he proceeded to pretend to cry, however, not surprisingly, he had a difficult time doing it without making any noise!

Oh my, I'd be so bored if it wasn't for these dear ones. :) 

It's all worth it!

First week of warm weather + achievement testing = interesting dynamics in the classroom.

It's been a while since I've written. Some of the things that have been going on: a student taking a chomp out of a piece of paper during class (I stared in shock before I could tell him to stop!)... One student told me he wanted to change his seat. When I asked him why, he said it was because he smells a terrible smell sitting where he sits... I confronted a student who someone accused of throwing bits of paper at him. He admitted to throwing the paper, but when I asked if he was throwing it at the student, his response was, "No! Not at him, surely not at him!" Surely, huh?... One dear student came up to me at break time with his pad of paper and pencil and asked for his letter grade and percentage for Reading. He then proceeded to ask for every subject and told me that his dad helped him set up an Excel spreadsheet at home to help him keep track of his grades. (This makes me so happy!) Since then, he's continually asking if I counted this or that as a grade and what the percentage is... Today one boy's hands somehow got covered in black ink. (I do mean covered!) I really had no idea what to say, except, "I don't know what your mom is going to say!"

Last week, the chapel speaker had the students write thank you notes to their teachers. Those notes made my week (maybe my year)! Here are some of cute things they said:

Thank you for making learning fun. I like how much you put into work. 

Thank you for being nice to me and helping me.

I like that you give me time for me to do my work!

I'm glad you're my teacher. I love you very much!

I'll miss you next year.

Thank you for teaching us. We learn a lot each day. We try to do our best. We are glad we have you. I love you!

I tried not to be concerned at the few that said, "Thank you for teaching us everything we now!" :)

Even though I'm tired and feel a bit worn out and impatient somedays, these are the reasons it's all worth it! Love those kids!

Unwelcome visitor

Today I was the one providing entertainment for my students... I had just finished lecturing them about how they've been too chatty and they need to calm down and focus. We started Language class, and I was in the middle of a sentence, when I saw a student pointing to something on the floor. I looked down, and there was a huge brown blur shooting across the floor. I interrupted myself with a loud "EWW! WHAT IS THAT?!" As the class all got to their feet and gathered around to see the creature (a disgusting thousand legger), I retreated to the corner of the room. (Many of you know I have an extreme phobia to thousand leggers.) Thankfully one brave boy offered to kill it with a tissue. (He liked being the hero.) I was so worked up over this that I could feel my face getting all flushed; the students were sure to point out that I was all red. You can imagine how long it took us to get back to Language. 

After I took the students out to recess, I returned to the room and found this on my desk: 

Notice the red face. It didn't take long for me to deduce that it was from my hero. He later told me he should have put the note with the thousand legger in a jar. Several times I caught him at the trash can trying to dig it out. 

Needless to say, the students saw a different side of their teacher today... Glad I could provide some humor for them, although I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it! 

Not my strength

The other day in my devotional book, Jesus Calling, I read this:

It is good that you recognize your weakness. That keeps you looking to Me, your Strength. Abundant life is not necessarily health and wealth; it is living in continual dependence on Me.

I had to think of that today. Being responsible for 25 children creates many moments when I cannot depend on my own strength! Today, for example, I had two students getting sick (one throwing up in the classroom), desks falling apart, about five students who just can't seem to get caught up with their work with the end of the quarter looming ahead of us, a boy retrieving something who ended up completely under his desk for a minute or two, a student -while microwaving his lunch - exclaiming, "Peas and chicken are popping out of my soup!", behavior issues, which included students running/skipping/jumping after I had just talked to them and was making them walk with me, students constantly calling out and talking without raising their hands, students making all sorts of noises such as squealing, clicking, and sirens, a student lying completely underneath my rocking chair (head out the front, feet out the back) right before I was ready to sit on it...

By the end of the day, I was actually saying to students, "Listen, I have no patience left!" I'm glad God doesn't run out of patience with me, and I have another chance tomorrow to show a little more grace. :)

And I did get a nice self-esteem boost this afternoon as I was grading papers. One of the directions on their Language paper was to write a sentence about their teacher using a linking verb. I made sure to instruct them to be nice, and so it was rather pleasant to read 25 variations of "My teacher is nice," or my favorite one, "My teacher is pretty." Thanks, students! It means a lot, even though I did tell you to write nice things about me!

A week's worth of stories

Last week seemed to be a bit of a blur. There were some difficult and challenging moments (as always), but as I think back over it, I have to smile...

The gym teacher made the students these really cool T-shirts for their volleyball tournament. This resulted in some interesting moments in class. Many of the students chose to change into their new T-shirts the day they got them, which was fine for the most part. However, throughout the day I had students constantly asking to go change into their T-shirts, or change back into their other shirts... And then there were the two boys that decided it would be funny to put their T-shirts on backwards, during class. And what to do with their other shirts? Well one boy decided to wrap it around his head.

We also had some issues with the bathroom passes this week. (They put the pass on their desks so I know where they are instead of taking the passes to the germy bathroom!) The boys' pass was missing for a day, but I figured it would turn up eventually. Finally when it became an issue, I stopped in the middle of class to ask them if anyone knew where it was. I got an answer I wasn't expecting... Yes, one boy knew where it was. Somehow it had gotten into his backpack and he had taken it home the night before. Later that same day, the girls' pass was missing, and when I asked where it was, one of the boys piped up, with a completely serious voice and face, "Maybe it's in someone's backpack." That made me laugh even though I'm still not sure if he meant it as a joke!

At break time, the snack battles continue. One day one boy put something in the microwave. It's not usually necessary to microwave a snack, so I asked him what he was microwaving. He brought a plastic cup with a brown lump over to me, explaining, "Look, Miss Weaver, I microwaved my Snickers bar to change it from a solid to a liquid." Well, I'm glad he's been paying attention in Science class, but for the rest of the morning the classroom smelled like melted plastic and burnt Snickers.

On Wednesday morning, the chapel speaker shared an acronym, and one of the words he used was "necessary." I'm not sure if this is what sparked this one girl's use of the word or not, but later that day she brought me one of her papers and said, "Is this necessary?" I looked at it, but I didn't understand what she was asking. She repeated the question. I said, "Do you know what necessary means?" "No... I mean, is it good?" So I explained to her the meaning... hopefully she'll try using it again. :)

I had to leave early Friday afternoon for a doctor appointment, so all the students were waving and saying goodbye, and just before I went out the door, one boy called, "I'm glad you're leaving!" I didn't take him too seriously considering this was the same boy who earlier that week gave me bunny ears and openly admitted to me it was because he wanted attention.

Even though I'm never sure I have enough energy for the coming week, I'm not ready for the school year to be over yet. These students keep my life interesting!  :)

Who knew dictionaries were so interesting?

At the end of the day one of my students commented to me, "You look tired." I said, "I am tired!" They couldn't understand. "Why? It's Friday! We're never tired on Fridays!"

Today started with one student telling me his family got fish last night. I was thinking he meant fish to eat, so I stared, waiting for an explanation. When he started saying what kinds they were, I realized he meant pet fish. So I said, "Oh, that's exciting!" and called on someone else who wanted to share something. Well I guess this student was really excited about his pet fish and wasn't done talking about them, because as others were talking, I heard him still making comments. "They like to swim at the top... They're pretty small..."

What kind of teacher doesn't let her students look at dictionaries? Well... me. One of the local schools donated dictionaries for each of my students. I mentioned this in passing one day, but I had left them in my car. They were so excited about getting these dictionaries; they kept asking about them and reminding me to bring them in. So I finally handed them out this morning. Never have I seen children so fascinated with a reference book! Every spare minute they were absorbed in the dictionaries. All day long I had to threaten to take away their dictionaries if they didn't stop looking at them during class! You should know, though, that they weren't just reading definitions... there was a lot of information in the back of these dictionaries, like maps and charts and such. But still... Many of them wanted to take them home for the weekend. Hey, as long as it's not during Math or Spelling or any of my classes, enjoy your dictionaries, kids!

Lunchtime entertainment

Just a quick story for you today.

A few days ago, one of my boys ("Bobby") demonstrated his juggling skills for the class during lunchtime. (Incidentally, this is the same boy who was making balloon animals the other week. Maybe he'll be in a circus someday.) He was quite good for a third grader (much better than I would ever hope to be).

Today at the beginning of lunch I saw across the room that one boy ("Johnny") was up to something but I wasn't sure what. So I asked, "What are you doing, Johnny?!" His answer: "I'm juggling, like Bobby was the other day!" However, instead of juggling with nice soft balls, Johnny was "juggling" with his yogurt and fruit cup. Just as I opened my mouth to tell him that that was not a good idea (seeing as his juggling skills needed some work), up went the peaches and yogurt, down went the peaches, splitting open, spilling juice and peaches on the carpet.

Never a dull moment in the third grade classroom.

Trash can digging, lectures, and Sammy Sosa

I didn't fully realize until I became a teacher how much I like to be in control. (The Lord is continually working with me on that!) I have a plan, and heaven forbid anything get in the way of following it. So you can imagine my frustration when interruptions in the classroom prevent me from carrying out a lesson as planned. A few of the interruptions that occurred yesterday morning were:

1. my need to confiscate a blue sharpie from a student who was drawing on all kinds of things with it during class
2. a boy trying to quietly open and eat a granola bar during class (after break/snack was over)
3. a boy spitting on the carpet (I'm still not quite sure why or how, but it was a significant amount!)

But these types of interruptions I'm used to. It wasn't until the afternoon at the beginning of Math class that I really got flustered, because I wasn't able to stay on schedule. :)  We had just started, and I asked a question about a problem we read. I called on a boy, and instead of answering, he asked me where the hand sanitizer was. (The bottle that I bought to replace the one that got knocked into the trash can that no one bothered to dig out or tell me about a couple weeks ago.) So I stopped the lesson and went back to look in the disgustingly full trash can, all the while lecturing the class that there is no reason it should keep ending up in the trash can, and if it does, the person who knocked it in needs to pull it out. I finally pulled the trash bag out of the can, and there it was on the bottom. So I dug it out, but warned them that I'm not going to keep buying more and if it happens again, they'll just have to wash their hands instead of using sanitizer. As I was lecturing, I went to wash my hands, only to remember afterwards that we were all out of paper towels. (There's nothing more annoying to me than dripping wet hands and not being able to dry them.) 

So I finally got myself together and had just said, "Okay, back to Math!" when my two students that go to another teacher for Math came waltzing back into the classroom announcing that their teacher wasn't in her room . So I stopped Math again and tried calling down to the office, but the phone just rang and rang. So I told them to find a book to read for now (meaning in our classroom) but before I knew what happened, they were back out the door. I guess they thought I meant go read in their room until the teacher came. So I left the room to tell them to come back or make sure there was a teacher with them. I seriously couldn't have been out of the classroom more than 30 seconds. When I came back in, the students looked at me and started laughing hysterically. When I asked why, one boy said, "We threw all the chalk in the trashcan!" which wasn't true. I still don't know why they were laughing (which makes me rather nervous), but it took them a few minutes and another lecture to calm down. We finally got back to Math class without any more major interruptions. Well, there was the boy after I said something like, "If you gave 2 apples to so-and-so..." who raised his hand and said, "I don't know anyone named so-and-so. But I do know someone named Soso. Sammy Soso." I said, "I think it's Sosa." He was sure he was right, and I was sure I was right, so even though it didn't matter, I had to look it up to prove myself. Okay, so that interruption was my fault. 

And now this snow day without any snow is really throwing my plans out of whack! But oh well... I just have to accept that I'm not in control! 

Teaching: Work & entertainment

Third graders are funny. You can't spend a day with them without laughing about something they say or do. (Or at least I can't!) I love that they keep me entertained. One boy was making balloon animals during lunch yesterday for Show and Tell. :)

Here's some inventive spelling from one girl's paper. (It took her at least 2 weeks longer than the rest of the class to finish the assignment, so I was just happy it was finished!)
poseches (possessions)
tuns of stuff
give money to the pore
and my favorite:
a fyou other people

And, oh the boys. Where do I start?

Yesterday I had the class "writing" big cursive letters in the air. I tried to stop the sound effects coming from all corners of the room, but it was impossible. Noises just automatically come out of their mouths, and sometimes they honestly can't help it. However, the gobbling during class today did have to stop.

Today during Social Studies I read a book to them about the first indigo plantation in South Carolina. It described the process, explaining that the plants were put into large tubs with water and other natural materials, including urine. (You can see where this is going, I'm sure.) I should have just skipped over that or kept reading without pausing. But not completely taking into account my audience, I explained that it meant "pee" and tried to keep reading. Well, they just couldn't quite process this. I may as well have just ended the lesson right then and there, because all they could think and talk about was the urine. One girl kept her hand raised for 5 minutes while I was reading, and when I finally called on her it was to say that they use that word in the hospital. She heard a nurse say it. An hour after Social Studies was over, one boy told me that (if you had lived on an indigo plantation) if you had to go to the bathroom, you could just go right in the indigo tub. (Spoken like a boy.) And another one asked, "So our jeans are dyed with pee? That's what you said!" I wish I could hear their answers when their parents ask, "What did you learn in school today?"

Why I need 4-hour naps

I know I need more sleep than the average person, but this year even more so. By Friday night I'm exhausted. Which is why I slept 9 hours last night and took a 4-hour nap this afternoon! It's no wonder I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally drained by the end of the week when I look back at how much energy each day requires of me. (I could never handle an actual high-stress job!)

These are some of the humorous interruptions during class this week (not counting the many I either forgot or didn't find humorous!).

Yesterday at the end of lunch time, I noticed that one of the boys had filled his plastic sandwich bags from his lunch with air. I had just directed him to sit in his seat quietly, so I decided to ignore the bags until they became a problem. We soon all proceeded to the carpet for read aloud time. This boy was sitting beside my rocking chair with a gleeful look on his face. Much to his disappointment, I immediately noticed the two bags that he had strategically placed behind and underneath my rocking chair. He was hoping for an explosion.

And then there are the countless random responses when I call on students thinking they have an answer or a relevant question. Here are a few examples all from this week:

• "My sister scratched me this morning." 
• "There was a guy whose stomach exploded because he ate too many pop rocks and soda."
• "I like snow."
• "Look, I made an Egyptian person out of my pencil grip and cap eraser." 
• "Can I go take a nap in the health room?" 
• After dotting his Math homework with his pencil: "My paper has chicken pox!" 
• After I said we should pray for the Elijah play they'll be performing on Monday (Lord, give me extra energy on Monday!): "The Elijah play isn't sick." 
• "What happens if you cut off a person's left side?" Me: "What?" Student: Repeats question Me: "Does this have to do with Math? We don't have time for this..." Student: "They're all right." 

And then there was the hand sanitizer incident. Those of you who know me know that I’m a “germophobe,” which is why I have a bottle of hand sanitizer next to the tissues and instruct my students on the first day of school to use it whenever they blow their nose or whenever they cough or sneeze in their hands.  (I have to say, my class has been very healthy this year!)  Every now and then, the sanitizer is misused, as can be expected with third graders, but for the most part they are good about using it. 

Yesterday one boy asked me what happened to the hand sanitizer. I didn't know, so I asked the class if anyone knew what happened to it. I expected the usual answer for something like this: “We don’t know!” But no, not my class. This was our conversation: 

Students: “It’s probably in the dumpster.”

Me: “What?” 

“Yeah, it fell into the trash can.”

“Well why didn't someone dig it out?!”

“Because our bus was leaving.” 

“Oh, so it’s still in the trash can?”

“No, this happened a few days ago.” 

At which point, I threw up my hands and said, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?!” 

I think I'll go sleep some more. 

Shoelace disruptions

Most of the time, when there is a disruption or misbehavior during class, I try not to let any humor show, even if in the back of my mind I'm thinking, This will make a great story! Some of the students will take even the slightest smile from me as license to laugh at the student causing the disruption, and of course that student will take laughter as encouragement to continue the behavior. So most of the time I'm able to keep a straight face and deal with the problem before it causes chaos in the room.

For instance, today during Math class, a boy raised his hand and when I called on him, he said, "I have a new watch," and held up his wrist for everyone to see his freshly drawn blue-ink watch. I said, "Now's not the time to discuss that," and went on with the division lesson. Later I told asked him to please not draw on himself with pen during class.

But one day not too long ago I couldn't help myself. I did the unthinkable. I burst out laughing in the middle of Social Studies class at the antics of two of my boys.

The class was seated on the carpet, and I was reading to them. Some of the students starting laughing, so I (unhappy at being interrupted) asked the two boys who seemed to be causing the disruption what the problem was. The one said something about his shoelaces being tied together. I thought someone had tied his shoelaces to each other while he wasn't paying attention. I told him to take care of it quietly ,and I began reading again. Well, the giggling and disruption continued, so I told that boy to go out in the hallway and take care of the problem and not come back in until he was ready to listen quietly. I was expecting him to hop out of the room, but I figured at least the rest of the class could concentrate then. So he got up and started walking, dragging one foot behind him. The other boy - quietly, without saying a word - started crawling along behind him, and I realized THEIR shoelaces were tied together! That's when I couldn't control my burst of laughter. That mental image still makes me smile. Oh boys.

I think I might have gray hair by the end of this year.

Is it so hard to sit on a chair?

Some days I wonder if my students conspire beforehand about what to do that day to test my patience. Today, for example, we had chair issues. Many chair issues. Or, more accurately, sitting issues. I can't even tell you how many times I had to say, "Sit down," or "Keep your chair on the floor," or "Your feet shouldn't be on your chair." All day long, I turned around and I saw feet hanging over chairs, chairs tipping backwards, students straddling chairs, picking their chairs up in the middle of class, sitting on the top part of their chairs... Sometimes one student performing more than one of those at the same time (and then I wonder why our chairs are falling apart.) By the end of the day, I was beginning to imagine what my students will be like someday as adults with office chairs. :-/

But then on days like today, I have to remember back to the beginning of the school year, and then I realize how far we've come. In the first few weeks - maybe months - of the school year, I had students regularly lying down on the floor and crawling under desks in  the middle of class. So maybe dealing with chair issues isn't so bad after all.

I don't think it's coincidence that this morning in faculty devotions we read this verse:

A person’s wisdom yields patience. (Proverbs 19:11)

Since I don't think God will ever look at me and say, "Okay, Michelle, you have enough wisdom and patience now," I guess I better get used to learning this lesson! One of our Social Studies lessons is about Benjamin Franklin, and he wrote his own epitaph, which I love:

The body of B. Franklin Printer;
Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents worn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here, food for worms.
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believed, appear once more,
In a new and more perfect Edition
Corrected and Amended by the Author.  

Praise the Lord!

Friday smiles

I thank God for the moments in my days that make me smile. They make all the difficult moments worthwhile. Today I had several of them, so I'll share them with you in the hopes of bringing a smile to your face too!

For those of you who read my previous post, "Snack battles," you'll appreciate this. Today at snack time, I noticed a student carrying three food items to his desk: peanuts, a pack of crackers, and a granola bar. (Just for the record, this is not the same student who ate his whole lunch for snack.) I said, "You can't eat all of that for snack! You need to choose one thing."
He looked at me dumbly. "What?"
"Yes, one thing."
 More staring. "But my mom wants me to have all of these for snack."
Oh, the good ol' mom line. (I wonder what they tell their moms that their teacher said.) Mean teacher: "No, choose one thing, and put the others back for lunch. You're eating lunch in an hour. You can wait."

This afternoon, I took the class to recess. One of my girls was straggling along behind, and she told me, "I just had my scarf, and now I can't find it." I asked if she checked the Lost & Found, thinking she'd left it out at recess earlier in the day. She explained to me that as she was walking out to recess, just then, she was putting it on, dropped it, and now couldn't find it. I looked in the hallway with her, and it was nowhere to be found. The mystery of the missing scarf. Later in the day, one of the aides brought the scarf to our classroom, so I still don't know where it disappeared to or where it was found!

Writing is always a difficult thing to teach children. You want them to write well, but you can't write for them. Right now, the students are working on writing poems. We first wrote a class poem together about recess. We wrote about the games and activities they do at recess, and then since they have lunch after recess, we ended by saying:
 It's time for lunch. 
I have a hunch we'll eat a bunch.
We discussed how having two rhyming lines at the end is a good way to close a poem, so I encouraged them to try to end their poems with some rhyming words. As I was conferencing with students today, I realized that, interestingly enough, many poems about trains and thunderstorms and such were ending with lines about it being time for lunch and eating a bunch.

I still smile when I remember meeting with one of the boys. His poem was about a train, and his (non-proofread) poem read:
Chug, chug, chew, chew goes the train. 
The train doesn't have blood vains.
So I was trying to help him come up with some rhyming lines that made sense. His one line was, "The train is here." So I asked, "What rhymes with here?" and gave him some ideas: near, fear, dear... This was the line he came up with: "Here comes my ear." He immediately dissolved into giggles, and I couldn't help but join in! In fact, I'm still giggling. I was so glad for that moment with him, because most of our one-on-one moments are not lighthearted!

And lastly, in Science today, we read about "States of Matter." Immediately when I said the topic, one boy piped up, "Like Ohio?" And then again at the end of the lesson, when I said something about the three states of matter, this same boy said, "Oh, I thought for a second that you were talking about real states!"

Lunch prayers and Valentine love

There’s one in every class: a student who loves to be the center of attention. Thrives on it. (Unlike those of us who in every college class sat in the third row off to the side, so as to blend in and not draw attention to ourselves.) I may happen to have more than one of those students this year, but one who especially seeks the spotlight. Let’s call him Bobby. We'll get back to Bobby later.

The class marble jar was looking sadly empty, so a few weeks ago I realized they needed some motivation - they earn marbles for good behavior, and when the marble jar is full, they can have a reward. So I made a deal with them that once they filled it halfway, they could choose a reward. They made it, and the reward they chose was a pizza party, which I decided would be nice for Valentine's Day. (Whenever I had to take marbles out, I threatened to take away the pizza party if the marbles went below halfway. Today after lunch I overheard a student say, "She can't take away our pizza party anymore!")

I just finished reading a book to the class about a 3-year-old boy who didn't want to eat. His dad got tired of it and said, "Eat it or wear it." This phrase caught on with my third graders.

Which brings us back to Bobby. His prayer for lunch went something like this: "Dear God, please help us not to eat too much candy so we don't get sick on the tummy. And keep the pizza safe and help it to get here so we can eat it and not wear it."

At the sound of Bobby’s “Amen,” the class erupted into giggles. I looked at Bobby with what I hope was a serious face and asked, “Were you trying to entertain God, Bobby? I hope you weren't trying to entertain the class, because praying is about speaking to God and focusing on Him.” He didn't say anything. I think he got the point. :)

I remember loving Valentine's Day as a student, and so I love to make it special for my students. Our Valentine holders were bursting at the seams this morning!

I received many special gifts - cards, candy, a bag of chocolates, a Hershey's XOXO bar, a pink bucket with puppy chow inside, a card that said "Dear Ms. Weaver, I will try to be good all year." But perhaps the sweetest thing I got today was a homemade, 3-foot high, pink paper heart:

It's nice to know you're loved, isn't it? So much of Valentine's Day is associated with romantic love, but I'm not letting my singleness keep me from enjoying the day! I'm so thankful for my students, family, and friends who love me. I am truly blessed. And most of all, I'm basking in God's love for me and thanking him that it is enough. More than enough. I'm overwhelmed and humbled by his love for me. Song of Solomon 8:7 says this:

Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.

I hope you're basking in His love too. :) Happy Valentine's Day!

Snack battles

Okay, so I understand it was naive and idealistic of me to assume my students would understand and follow my expectations within the first week of school. I even understand it takes some up to a month to get acclimated to a new classroom. But now they've been in my class for six months! Over those six months, even though break time is at 10:30 every day and the routine hasn't changed since Day 1, I've found myself having to clarify the proper procedures for snack at break time. (Is it unreasonable of me to think that I shouldn't have to anymore?)

1. You may eat a healthy snack that you bring from home.   Which soon changed to: 
2. You may eat a snack that you bring from home. (I long ago gave up trying to make them eat fruit and veggies instead of chips and cookies. I need to save my energy for the necessary battles.)
3. Please don't eat your sandwich at break time. 
4. You may not eat your whole lunch at break time. (Yes, this was an actual problem. Therefore, one day one student's lunch consisted of milk.)

Which brings us to yesterday.

After visiting the secondary students' academic fair, I instructed my students to sit at their desks and get out their journals. All the students quietly followed my directions. All but one, that is. This student got his snack, sat down, and calmly started eating his pack of cookies.  

I stopped giving instructions mid-sentence. I wanted to say "Take a look around. Is anyone else eating a snack before break time?" But not wanting to take the time to hear what prompted this dear student to think this was acceptable behavior (as entertaining as it may have been), I instead informed him it wasn't break yet and he'd have to wait to eat his snack. He stopped eating, I continued giving instructions, and we were able to move forward with our journal writing. 

Just one of the100 or so interruptions that occur in my classroom throughout a typical day. :) 

First days and expectations

We all have our favorite TV shows: doctors and nurses scrambling around to save lives, witty investigators solving impossible crimes, "real" people falling in love... The list goes on.  So maybe you wouldn't think that teaching elementary school is very entertaining. But I'm here to prove you wrong. Put 25 8- and 9-year-olds in one room together with only one adult, and there is bound to be entertainment. I've decided I have too many good stories this year not to share them. 

One thing about teachers - we're good at communication. So I knew it sounded like this year could present some challenges, but even though this is only my third year teaching, I knew what to expect from a group of third graders on the first day of school: they would be quiet and slightly shy, obediently following all my instructions. They'd sit at their desks with folded hands, listening in rapt attention as I explained all that the year would hold. Surely they'd understand my expectations and rules without much direction from me. After all, this school thing isn't new to them anymore. They've had 3 years of experience being students - more experience than I've had being a teacher!  

What I should have learned on that first day of school (however, I'm still learning this lesson) is not to have preconceived notions about what any day of school will hold. My email to my sister after that first half day tells it all: 

You know it's going to be an interesting year when:

...during Chapel on the first day of school, within the first half hour of the day, you have to turn around multiple times to tell the student sitting directly behind you to be quiet and listen to the principal. You also have to remind 2 other boys to be quiet during this time. 

...one student during the first 5 minutes of class is putting his boxes of tissues on top of an already precariously high pile of boxes, only to have the whole class watch the pile slide and tumble while the boy giggles delightedly and the others join in. 

...after thoroughly discussing the importance of raising your hand, having the whole class sign the rules poster agreeing to this rule, among others, one boy has to flip a card on the behavior chart because already he is not following that rule. Not only is he calling out answers, but he's making noises as well. (Not to mention the sock that he had wrapped around his head, even after I told him to put it in his desk.)

...and then there's that student who can't seem to stay in his chair. You overlook his standing up some of the time, but when he starts wandering from his desk or sitting on top of his desk, you have to ask him to have a seat.

Despite all of that, I'm still excited for the year. It should be fun and very, very interesting!

Well maybe that last sentence was a bit of an understatement. But yes, it is interesting, as well as challenging, fun, tiring, and - despite the fact that there are no TV shows based on a teacher's life (yet) - entertaining.