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.