My kids

I'm always calling my students "my kids." This could be confusing for people who don't know this. Like when I'm wrapping 19 Christmas gifts for "my kids." So yes, I do have 19 kids, for those of you who didn't know. (So much thanks to you parents who entrust them to me for seven hours every day. It is an honor as well as very humbling.) It seems to strike me every year around Christmastime that they really, really are now my kids. I know them. We've worked so hard. We've laughed together. Maybe we've even shed a few tears together. I love them so much. They are mine.

We had a good, short week before Christmas. They were able to fill their marble jar, and the reward they chose was to watch a movie and have a snack. They asked if they could take off their shoes to watch the movie, and when I agreed, I couldn't believe how excited they were! It's the little things... I overheard one girl exclaim, "This is the best day of my life!"

Yesterday I had them act out a little Christmas play. At one point it says, Angel hugs Candy Cane. One of the boys who was off stage was reading ahead, and whispered to the girl playing Angel, "Don't do it!" When she got to that part, she got an appalled look on her face and said, "I'm not going to hug him!" (Poor Candy Cane.)

I gave them each a simple art kit as a Christmas gift. I received more exuberant hugs in one minute than I did the rest of the year combined. One sensitive girl concernedly asked, "How did you pay for all of them?" I assured her they were on sale, and I had a coupon! (I learned a few things from my mom.)

On a Christmas writing prompt I gave them this week, one girl wrote about how she and her family are going on a trip. She told me to write and call, and if I want to know her dad's cell number, he'll lend it to me. (She'll only be missing two days of school.) I'm sure I will miss her, as well as the rest of the class over Christmas break, but I think I'll be able to survive without making any phone calls.

Merry Christmas!

BFFs, yogurt discussions, and candy bar prayers

The main thing I love about my job is, of course, the kids. This is why I write. You can't make this stuff up. 

(I know some of you saw my Facebook post about this, so sorry for the repetitiveness.) The class was completing a Bible worksheet about David and Jonathan, and I decided we should answer some of the questions together. One of the questions was, "What did David and Jonathan promise each other?" The answer I wrote on the board for them to copy was, "They and their descendants would always be friends." Later, when I was grading the papers, I read this one boy's answer and burst out laughing: "BFF and descendants BFF." I would expect something like that from some of the girls, but because it was a boy made it that much funnier to me. 

One day during break time I overheard one of the boys saying, "I wonder why I'm always surrounded by girls." 

I was telling my class about a little boy I know who needed brain surgery. One girl raised her hand and asked, "Was it Ben Carson who did his surgery?" 

For language class, we finished a chapter on action verbs, and the students have been completing different activities to reinforce their knowledge. At least, that was my plan. As one of the girls was leading the class in Simon Says, I reminded her to use action verbs. She looked at me and asked, "What are verbs?" 

In science class, we've been discussing characteristics of living things and the difference between living and nonliving things. Today I overheard this conversation at lunch:

"Yogurt is a living thing!"
"No, it's not! Why isn't it moving?"
"Wouldn't it be funny if it was moving around in the trash can?"
"No, it's alive inside the yogurt."
"That's weird."
"Who told you that?"
"You should ask Miss Weaver." 

(I was not about to jump in and offer my limited knowledge about live cultures.)

"YouTube would tell you!"
...
"Miss Weaver?" 

But by far my favorite part of the week was listening to my students pray. This year our school collected candy bars to give to inmates in a local prison for a Christmas project.

We spent some time praying this week during the times that the chaplain would be handing out the candy bars. These were some of the prayers that made me get all teary eyed: 

"Let them know that someone loves them, even if they've been bad. None of us are perfect."
"Help them to know You love them no matter if they're good or bad."
"Tell them that we love them." 

Today when they heard that the candy bars were successfully handed out and that the men were amazed that someone cared enough to buy them something, the students excitedly exclaimed, "Our prayers worked!" 

Best job ever

Teaching is hard work. Some days it's hard to feel successful, and it's hard to know what you really accomplished. But then there are days when I sit there and look at all my students engaged and working hard, and when I listen to the student whose reading has improved so much since August. And my heart is filled with joy because I have the privilege of being part of all of it. And then there are those extra special perks. Days like yesterday, when a student delivers warm chocolate chip cookies, baked fresh that morning by her mother. And I think, This is the best job ever! 

I just finished reading Ramona the Pest to my class. When we got to the part where Ramona was banned from the Kindergarten until she could stop pulling Susan's "boing, boing" curls, one of my girls asked me, "Would you ever do that to us?" I just laughed and said, "No!" I didn't explain to her that I couldn't, if I wanted to. :)

In math one day, we were practicing using timelines, so we made a timeline with events from my life. I asked them how many years they think we should put on the timeline. One of them thought 100 years.

They've also been practicing writing numbers using words, which means I see some interesting spelling, such as "9inedy" and "ate hundred" and "aty."

One morning this week, I looked across the classroom and saw a bunch of girls gathered around one of the boys. (This is not typical behavior for third graders.) Then I realized they were all looking at a picture of his brand new baby brother. And of course then I had to join them! (When I say I love newborns, they look at me strangely, as if they can't imagine me with any other people besides third graders.)

I entered the bathroom a couple of days ago, and overheard two girls who were in the stalls.
"I started at the bottom and went to the top."
I assumed I missed the beginning of the conversation.
Long pause.
Same girl: "I got 100."
...
Girl number 2: "Oh! You're counting them! ...1,2,3,4,5..."
And I realized (as I was leaving the bathroom and they continued counting), that they were counting the tiles on the bathroom floor. Maybe I should have checked in with their teacher to see how long they were missing from class. :)

Best job ever.

Incredible kids

My students find ways all the time to brighten my days. I received a hand-written letter, a whoopie pie, and pictures all in one day!

Last week we had three half days so that we could have parent-teacher conferences in the afternoons. On Wednesday, I reminded the students that Thursday would be a full day. And they cheered. They cheered about having a full day of school. How blessed am I to be teaching these incredible kids? 

As incredible as they are, I don't think I'm quite ready to travel across the Atlantic with all of them. We've been learning about Ancient Rome in social studies, and I mentioned that someday I would love to go to Rome and see the Colosseum. They wanted to go too, so naturally they concluded that we should take a class field trip to Italy. A few days later, we learned about Pompeii, and when someone said that they would like to visit it, I said, "Sure, we'll just go there after our field trip to the Colosseum." I have to remember that not all third graders pick up on sarcasm, because some of them were so confused. "Wait, what? Our field trip to the Colosseum?" 

I explained to one of the students that when there is a problem like 5 + m = 12, you have to find the missing number that m stands for. "Does m stand for mystery?" she wondered. That would make a lot of sense. 

On a science worksheet, one of the questions was, "Are you warm-blooded or cold-blooded? How do you know?" From past experience, I told the students they couldn't say something like, "Because the book says so," or "My teacher told me." But one student wrote, "I know because I am smart."

At break time one day, I heard a group of boys chanting, "Do it! Do it! Do it!" Of course anytime there is a group of boys chanting "Do it!" there are automatically red flags. So I stared at them, waiting to see what it was, but then they started whispering, "The teacher's looking." You better believe it. So it is still a mystery. Probably for the best. 

Things I love about my students

The last day of the first quarter (I know, already!) seems like a good time to reflect on all the things I love about my students. Even on the hard and challenging days, there is always something to love.

• I love when students are excited about their spelling test scores because yesterday they got 13 wrong and today they only got three wrong. 
• I love that they say, "She has eyes in the back of her head." 
• I love that they served so well without complaining on our recent service trip. I love that a few minutes after beginning the work, one girl exclaimed, "I never want to leave!" 
• I love that when the disinfectant wipes are extra wet from being on the bottom of the canister, they call them "juicy." 
• I love that if I need to step out of the room for a minute or two, I know they're in good hands with my mini-teachers. 
• I love that they like to color. 
• I love that they love Ramona Quimby books as much as I do. 
• I love that since I made this poster they ask if they can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
  

• I love that they have so much to praise the Lord about (me too!).
  

A t-rex in language class

I told you about the girl with a tissue box on her desk. Today I noticed one of the girls has a whole bottle of hand sanitizer on her desk. Maybe that's a good idea. (Those of you who know me know I do love my hand sanitizer!)

One day we made brownies as an introduction to writing "how-to" paragraphs. They were too warm to eat right after they came out of the oven, so we ate them after we came back from our time in the library. The next week, we were getting ready to go to the library and one boy said to me, "Every time I think about the library, I think about brownies!" (Yes, that would be nice if we could have brownies every Tuesday.)

The funniest story I have from the last couple weeks is when we learned about a thesaurus. I wrote the word thesaurus on the board and asked if anyone knew what is was. One girl guessed a dinosaur. I said, "No, but that's a good guess, because it has the same ending as a lot of dinosaur names, like...stegosaurus..." I'm not very good at remembering dinosaur names, so they helped me by calling some more out... One girl called out, "T-rex!" which didn't really fit, but I ignored it and kept going. We discussed what a thesaurus is and how we use it to make our writing better, and then I asked them, "What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus?" This girl raised her hand and said, "Well, a t-rex has more words..." So I had to clarify that a thesaurus is not actually called a t-rex.

Tissues, pencils, and erasers (oh my!)

In some ways it feels like we've been in school for a long time, but in other ways it's hard to believe that we already have three weeks completed! I was happy to overhear this conversation at the end of the day today:

"I can't believe it's the end of the day already!"

"I know! School days go so fast." 

Nothing too eventful has happened - just the everyday routine of a third grade classroom.

Much to my chagrin, I've called four of my students by their siblings' names. One time I didn't even realize it until they looked at me confused and said, "Who's that?" 

We've been averaging using a box of tissues a day. This doesn't seem like a good sign for the upcoming cold season. I guess maybe that's why one of the girls decided she should have her own box of tissues at her desk. One day in the middle of Bible class, this same girl got out of her seat, went to her backpack and began hanging a trash bag on the side of her desk. I'm glad she feels at home in our classroom, but I'm not quite sure that we have enough room for every student to set up individual tissue boxes and trash cans. 

It seems like having sharp pencils ready to go is always a battle (as I'm sure any teacher will tell you). One day I noticed one of the boys writing with a tiny little stub which he could hardly hold. I let is slide, but later when he had poor handwriting I suggested he use a bigger pencil. He paused, pulled out this huge pencil, and said, "This is the only bigger one I have."

One of the first days of school I noticed that this same boy had little pieces of erasers in his desk, and I told him he needed to throw them away or put them in his backpack. He looked at me so earnestly and said, "But I'm going to use them!" I relented. A week or so later, I happened to see the inside of his desk. I didn't realize he had quite so many pieces! But to his credit, they have not been making a mess, so he can continue to use them. :)

I'm happy to report that my students also have a sense of humor. One day one of the boys forgot to sign back into the classroom after going to the bathroom, and when another student pointed it out to him he replied, "I thought I would relax in the bathroom for a couple of hours." 

During reading class one day, I asked the class how many letters are in the alphabet. Of course they all chorused, "Twenty-six!" I continued the lesson when one boy raised his hand. I called on him and he said, "Actually, there are only 25 letters in the alphabet, because the angel said, 'Noel.'"

And my humor today came from (of course) a language worksheet. We've been practicing combining two sentences into one. The two sentences were:

Bob ate bear meat. Jim ate bear meat.

So one student wrote:

Bob ate bear meat and Jim. 

Maybe it's because I'm tired, but I'm still giggling about that one. 

One week down

As I reflect on the first week of a new school year, the first thought that comes to mind is, It's only been a week?!  From what I've heard, I think it's safe to say all the teachers are feeling the same way. However, when I asked my students this morning if it has seemed like a long week to them, a few timidly, partially raised their hands, and the rest looked at me with baffled expressions. So I think that's a good sign that it didn't seem long to them. And although it's been exhausting, I am thrilled to spend my days with all these new little people. I'm really enjoying getting to know them. In fact, in some cases I'm having flashbacks to six years ago. Two of the girls are sisters of girls I had in my first year class (who are now 8th graders!), and I have to stop myself from calling them by the wrong names.

There have been a few special memories from the week which make me smile.

On the first day of school, one girl signed out a dictionary from our classroom library to take home. The next day one of the boys did the same. I didn't realize dictionaries are popular reading material in third grade.

I had the students fill out a sheet telling me their favorites. One boy's favorite food is "shuger." (Mine too!) Another boy's favorite sports team is "Fightin' Phils."

On another paper, I had them tell me about their summer, and they were able to draw a picture themselves. Here are a few samples of my little artists:

And my favorite:

I can relate. For her mother's sake, I have to say that she has never come to school looking like that!

As always, I love to read my third graders' writing. Today they were supposed to write a sentence about cows. Most sentences were something along the lines of:
Cows eat grass. 
Cows are black and white. 

But a few students were more creative:
Cows and bulls are different because bulls are boys and cows are girls. 
I saw a cow giving birth coming home from church. 

I'm looking forward to lots of good times and stories in third grade this year!

Smiling on the last day of school

The students always list all of their teachers in past years who have cried on the last day of school. So I told them today, "I don't usually cry, but that doesn't mean I'm not sad to say goodbye to you!" My wonderfully witty student replied, "Then why are you smiling?" Caught me! Actually, even though it is definitely time for a break, I'm never quite ready to say goodbye to my students. I wish they were coming back to me next year.

There have been signs for several weeks now that we're all ready for summer vacation. One day one of the boys came in with a super short hair cut. I heard one student asking him, "Are you sure you didn't lose 50 years of your life? Because you look like you're around 60."  A few days later another boy came into the classroom sporting a new haircut and proclaiming, "There's a new 80-year-old in the room!" Today looking at pictures from earlier in the year, one boy commented, "That's when I still had all my hair!"

Yesterday in math class, we were using a grid and plotting points. My witty student gave the point (2,2) and muttered under his breath, "Which I'm not wearing." I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

I'm pretty sure I don't even know half of what went on with my students this year. Today I had them share their favorite memories from third grade, and one boy shared that the most memorable part for him was the day he split his pants. I looked at him confused, and said, "I don't remember that."
 "No, I didn't tell anyone!"

In Bible class this year, we learned about faith heroes from the Bible. I had the students write in their journals about someone in real life who is a faith hero. Here are a couple of my favorites:

A faith hero is a person who loves God more than anything else. My parents believe in God real strongly.  

My parents trust God to make sure our old car keeps on running on long trips. 

Yes, I will definitely miss this great group of students! But like I told them today, I can't wait to see and hear about all the ways that God will use them in the future! I have good reason to smile. :)

Calm and frustrated and all excited

I can tell summer is just around the corner. For one thing, the noise level has never been louder in my classroom (and I mean never, as in all five years I've been teaching). And then there are the sentimental little notes and gifts I keep receiving from students. Even though I'm still in school mode (because I see everything we still need to accomplish before the year is over, and I'm not quite ready to say good-bye!), some of my students are definitely on vacation mode.

This note was handed to me last week, with at least ten more days of school.

Apparently, this student is ready to start calling me by my first name now that she's almost done with third grade. :)

I'm touched by this creative poem from a student who would probably not claim to enjoy writing. (I'll do my best to translate it!)

Teachers are nice and some are scared of mice. :)
Some are mean. Sometimes they're grumpy, sad, or maybe they're mad.
They give rewards and they're disappointed.
They like and dislike.
They're calm and frustrated and they're all excited. 

Tomatoes, lions, and a dollar a day

The year is winding down to a close... only 12 more days of school this year! I have so many memories to cherish. This is just a snapshot of a few of them from the last week or so.

I feel so appreciated and loved. Not only do I receive gifts, but I am also regularly blessed with handwritten notes and pictures.

There is nothing like reading a nine-year-old's writing. (I have come to realize through conferencing with students on their writing projects that sometimes I am better at deciphering their writing than they are!)

When asked to write about an Easter memory:

When I was about five I tried a tomato my first time (I was forced). I threw it against the wall after I took a bite. It almost hit my grandma.

After reading the story of Daniel and the lions' den, the students were asked: What "lions" can the Lord deliver you from?

• school work 
• thunderstorms
• going to bed 
• For Social Studies because I sometimes get stuck on a question. 
• brothers and sisters 

And definitely my favorite:

• Making a yes answer to a boy of marrying me. 

And we have a new, revised quote, as one of my students proclaimed one day: "A dollar a day keeps the doctor away!"

So he sat

Time is ticking away. I cannot believe it, but we only have half a quarter left of this school year!

I'll share a few of the highlights that I've managed to remember from the last month of school.

On one reading worksheet, the students had to write sentences using vocabulary words. I told them that their sentences should show me that they understand the meaning of the word, so they shouldn't write something like, "I like pastures." One girl wrote "I love the pasture." Another wrote "I like peeing. Do you?" Unfortunately, she misspelled peering. One student got creative: "The man's mustache quivered as he walked."

Students often like to share with their classmates at lunchtime. One day one of the girls was sharing about her cat. One of the boys asked her if she shot her cat. Looking absolutely shocked and dismayed, she gasped and exclaimed, "No!" The boy then proceeded to say that he's not fond of cats and other things that shocked the girls.

Last week we had roadside cleanup, when we go out in groups to clean up trash along the sides of roads as a fundraiser. In science a couple days before, we were learning about work. I said, "I'm sure some of you will tell me that roadside cleanup was a lot of work!" They loudly insisted that it would not be work, because there was no school work, and it was going to be so much fun. I just smiled and said, "Okay, we'll see."

I had three sweet girls in my group. We had a great day, but some of the comments I heard were:

"My bag is heavy!" and then another girl whispering, "Don't complain!"
"My feet hurt... but I'm having fun!"
"This is a little bit of work."

We had the pleasure of working on a road where a manure truck was making many trips back and forth. After the first couple times, the girls came up with a way to combat the smell. They yelled, "Cannon ball!", turned around, and curled up against the ground until the truck was past. I'm sure the driver was entertained.

The reward for making our fundraising goal is a half a day off school the next day. One of the boys kept insisting until the very end that he didn't want a half day off school. He changed his mind the next day though. :)

One morning this week I saw a girl carrying into the classroom a bottle of glue and a tube of glitter. Red flags and warning bells. "What are you planning on doing with that?" She replied that she wanted to make bookmarks. I was imagining glitter all over the classroom and suggested a time when she could do it, but not during class time!

I know I don't hear all the little comments that students make, and most of the time that's a good thing. But this one I caught, and although I ignored the student, I smiled inside. I was reading a book about Benjamin Franklin, and it said, "And Franklin could stand it no longer." And one of the boys commented, "So he sat."

Childlike simplicity

We can probably all use a dose of good, childlike simplicity from time to time. 

A couple of days ago, I was reading a story with the class, and it said a man "lost his bearings." Just to make sure they understood what happened, I asked what it meant. I soon realized they had no idea. They thought it meant he lost all his stuff, or that he lost his common sense, or that he got really mad. 

A conversation I overheard: 

Girl: My mom is pregnant!

Boy: When is her due date?

Girl: I don’t know… It’s either a boy or a girl.

A couple of days before the first day of spring, I asked the students to write in their journals. 

How can you tell spring is almost here?

“I know spring is almost here because I saw it on the calendar.”

What is your least favorite part about spring? 

“Parents and teachers make you keep coats on when it’s warm. :(”

“I’m tired of snow but I still want a blizzard this year.” 

Grandparents are for...

We've been preparing for Grandparents' Day next week. I read the stories "Grandpas Are For Finding Worms" and "Grandmas Are For Giving Tickles" by Harriet Ziefert. Then I had the students write their own paragraphs about their grandparents. I think they turned out pretty great! I picked out a few highlights to share with you.

Grandmas are for…
giving you a picnic in summer. 
baking good cookies.
letting you sit on their lap whenever you want.
happy times.
taking you places with your cousins.

Grandmas let you lick the spoon. 
Grandma lets you stay up late. 

Grandpas are for…
letting you use his back scratcher.
giving $20 on birthdays.
giving you kisses that tickle. 
taking naps.
wearing glasses.
sometimes coming home late for supper.
giving gum.

Grandpas are smart and have a lot of stuff. 
They let you have Tic-Tacs. 
Grandpas give you tons of snacks. 
Grandpas pick on you sometimes. 
Grandpas make grandmas happy. 

Most of all, grandpas/grandmas are for…
being grandpas
loving you
hugging 
fun
candy 

Entrepreneurs

I love my students. Sometimes they can be so cute, although I won't tell them that or they'd be embarrassed.

We've been learning about economics in social studies, and I told them I think some of them could be entrepreneurs someday.

That afternoon I saw signs like this one begin popping up all over the classroom:

One sign said, "Closed. Now hiring."

They're working together too. One boy's sign read, "Pencils for sale! See Johnny for papers."

Johnny's said, "Paper for sale $0.00"

One girl ran out of her pencil supply (high demand, I suppose, since they were free) and her sign the next day read, "Sorry closed! Good bye!"

On Monday I plan on asking some questions about profit.

It feels so much better...

I did not fall off the face of the earth, and my students did not stop coming to school, despite what it may seem like due to my lack of posts. I'll try to combine all my scribbled notes from the last month into one coherent post.

I wasn't sure I was ready to come back to school after Christmas break. I asked the students if they were ready and was answered with a mixture of cheers and groans. I heard one student say, "It feels so much better to be at school." How could I not be happy to be back after hearing that?

Over break I resupplied my prize box, and I've realized that sometimes the simplest, cheapest prizes are the favorite ones! I added some certificates that allow students to eat lunch at a table with a couple friends (instead of at their desks). This turned out to be a big hit!

My students continue to make me laugh. One girl told me that someone she knows is funny because her nose holes get bigger when she laughs. It makes me wonder what she says about me!

After learning about Martin Luther King Jr., I had them write a paragraph about their dreams. That is, after I convinced them that each of them does have dreams, stuffed somewhere deep inside of them. It was cute to read what some of them wrote. One girl wants to be "a hospital person." Another wants to travel around the world, like Canada and other places. One student is dreaming about traveling a little farther than Canada; he would like to go to Pluto or the moon.

They're creative in other subject areas as well. They've just written poems. First, we wrote a class poem together, which I think turned out pretty great.

Sunday Morning at Church

Clink! Plink!

The offering plates go by.

The pastor preaches at the pulpit.

Waa! A baby starts wailing!

I hear the preacher praying.

We sing.

Our voices ring.

Alleluia!

I noticed in their individual poems, there are a lot of wailing babies.

This class sure keeps me on my toes. One boy asked me a question about the Pythagorean Theorem. I didn't even know a third grader knew that was a thing. I guess I'll have to refer him to a high school math teacher, because I didn't know the answer. Other students wanted to know where Joan of Arc got her name from, since she was from a town not called Arc. I had to consult Wikipedia for that one. I graded their social studies tests today on the Medieval Times, and I actually had to go back and reread a few passages, because I wasn't sure if the facts they wrote were accurate. Turns out they were; they remembered more than I did!

And lastly, a few snowmen to brighten up February.