Report card

Last Tuesday morning, one boy entered the classroom excitedly chatting about the three feet of snow we'd be getting over the weekend. Some of the other students disagreed with him about the amount, to which he replied, "Yes we are! Two feet of snow on Friday and one foot on Saturday."
I said, "It's too early! They don't know yet!"
His reply made me laugh. "It's better to hope than to doubt!"
He sure told me... although we were hoping for different things. But I'm happy for him that he at least got two feet of snow!

I did something risky on Friday. Since I handed out their report cards, I decided it was only fair for them to give me a report card too, so I could see how I'm doing. It seems like I have some things to work on. Of course there are some things they wish they could change about third grade that I have no power to change (or that I will choose not to):

Art every day and no science
No homework
More gym
That I could be taller 

But I will have to seek some clarification for some of the suggestions.

How could I be a better teacher?

By being a little bit more senceable. (Did she mean sensitive? Or am I really not very sensible in her eyes?)
Less talking (Haha! I wish!)

And then there were sweet responses such as this one:

You are a good teacher. We will miss you. I love you, Miss Weaver. (I guess she's already thinking about the end of the year.)

40 hours of downtime

We are officially half way through the school year, which is always unbelievable to me. I'm also having a hard time remembering that we are now in the year 2016. The moment one boy walked into the classroom on the first day back from Christmas break, he said, "You have January 4, 2015 on the board." This happened more than once. And just yesterday, one of the boys brought me his birthday certificate where I had also written 2015. Luckily, it's pretty easy to change a 5 to a 6. And I have people keeping me on track.

I'm absolutely loving this year. It's so exciting to see how much the students are learning and progressing. We still have plenty to learn in the coming half of a year. Of course, things like multiplication and division and capital cursive letters. But there are a few other things to work on as well.

I'm still reminding the students that only water is acceptable at their desks throughout the day... not tea, not soda, not a huge bottle of Gatorade. Water with lemon is permissible, but snacking on your lemons from your water bottle is not.

Some of them also need continual reminders to not call out in class, especially during a test. Yesterday during the spelling test, one girl asked if the word was "disobey" or "disobeyed." I answered, and she went on to spell "disobeyed," exclaiming as she did, "Hey! The word 'eye' is in it!... Oops."

And of course, telling time and counting hours is always hard. The school newspaper staff did a survey this week, asking the students how much time they spent daily on various activities. One girl marked that she had 40 hours of downtime each day. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: You can't have 40 hours a day-
Girl, interrupting: Yes, I do! I have lots of free time.
Me (trying so hard to hold in my laughter): No, you can't! There are only 24 hours in a day!
Girl: But I do! I have so much time.
Me (with a hint of frustration and failing to hold in the laughter): You don't understand. From the time you get up in the morning until the next morning is only 24 hours! You can't have 40 hours of anything in one day. 

I didn't even go into how much time she spends sleeping and eating and at school. She grudgingly took the paper and changed her answer. I walked away, so as not to hover and create more stress, but I could tell from the way she was watching me that it was still probably not accurate. Sure enough... now she only has 24 hours of free time a day.

One battle at a time, I'm excited to see what the second half of the year holds!