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."
