Oh, is that who that is??

She was working so hard on her painting.

She looked up long enough to tell me, "I'm painting God. And look, there's His woman!"

OH NO!

So today I had jury duty. I won't go into a long bit complaining about it, you all know the drill. And honestly, I wouldn't mind it if it had been during the summer. But getting a class ready for a sub is a big deal- and the work that comes after a sub is a bigger deal.

But anyways, I digress. Here's my good kinder story...

I gave my class a big speech Monday afternoon about having a sub and what that would be like. But they are in kindergarten. So I decided to email their parents too. I emailed them all, told them I had jury duty and asked for them to please remind their children that Mrs. R would be taking care of them all day and to be good.

One mom from my class is a prosecutor here in town, so I was really hoping to end up in her courtroom- I was certain that would mean a quick dismissal. Unfortunately that did not happen.

I did see her today though, and this is what she told me happened last night at her dinner table:

Student "Mom, tomorrow we are going to have a sub."
Mom "I know. Mrs. Sawyer told me. She is actually going to be at mommy's work."
student (in tears now) "Mom, are you going to put Mrs. Sawyer in jail? I don't want her to go to jail!!"
mom "no, she is not going to jail."
Student "Dad, is she telling the truth??"

Oh I love my kinders!! And boy do they love me!! turns out this sweet little one only knows that mommy's job is "to put people in jail." So I understand how she could think I would be going to jail if I was at mommy's work.

I can tell you one person who will be happy to see me at school tomorrow!
(and the 2nd most excited about me going back tomorrow is my courageous sub! Thank you!!)

Excuse Me Mrs. Sawyer

We were cleaning up centers when I saw a little girl run across the room yelling, "Excuse me Mrs. Sawyer. Excuse me." and then she proceeded to start grabbing my elbow until I listened.

I looked down and patiently said, "yes ma'am"

"I pooted. Excuse me."

"oh. okay. well, I didn't know that. But you're excused."

I love kindergarten.

And it begins...

It doesn't take long for kids to feel comfortable and loved by someone. And as soon as they do, they begin opening up. WAY up!!

(the rest of this post is rated PG -13. You were warned)

This morning, we walked into the classroom, put our backpacks on the hooks, and began walking to our seats. This takes less than a minute to do. And in that first minute this is what I heard.

Student 1: "Mrs. Sawyer, I had a nightmare last night. I didn't sleep well."

Student 2: "Mrs. Sawyer, I peed in my mom's bed last night."

At that point, I said "OK, let's take a seat and be quiet." Oh man. It's already beginning.


And here's a story from the other kinder class.

Day 2 of school. They were working on patterns. We like to use manipulatives, draw, clap, whatever we can to get them interested. So she was doing a pattern of "head, shoulders, knees and toes." over and over.

Then she asked the kids to come up with one. Remember this is day 2 of school. A little boy stands up and says "boob, boob, penis."

"Oh okay. let's move on."

I love kindergarten.

Quite the Accomplishment!

In 1st grade today we had some time to read Spanish books silently. They were pretty cute about trying to guess what the Spanish words mean based on the pictures. And they actually did a great job!!

So this one precious girl is reading a book about La Corazon y Los Pulmones (heart and lungs- I have a body series, very interesting). (Keep in mind 1st graders are about 6 ot 7.)

She was one in particular who really enjoyed sharing what she was learning or could understand and came up about 10 times to tell me something about your lungs. Finally she comes up and says, "My mom told me not to smoke and I NEVER HAVE!"

Seriously- that really is quite the accomplishment!! ha!

So Helpful

A little 2nd grader was giving me a hug, then she looked up, backed away and pointed at her nose. I asked, "what's wrong?''

"YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING IN THERE!"

"okay, thanks." So I blew my nose, then went back to her. "Did I get it?"

"Well, no, it's actually hair hanging there."

Awesome. I love the honesty. so embarrassing.

More Silliness

My happy heart has even allowed me the privilege of sharing some funny kid stories...

1. Some missionary friends are in town visiting and they came to school today to talk with some of the kids. We were in the kindergarten class talking about what missionaries do and where they live and stuff like that. Then Josh gave each student a bracelet made in the Philipines but said they could only have the bracelet if they promise to pray for his family and for people in the Philipines. All the kids quickly yelled "I promise!" "Promise" "I'll pray" things like that. Then from the back of the room we heard, "THOMAS!" oh man, I thomas to pray for you! Ha!

2. I was teaching 3rd grade and was going to explain why so many South and North American countries speak Spanish. I asked the kids, "Who discovered America or the New World?" I heard many names come up, but my favorite answer (again very loudly) was "American Einstein!" Now that's a name i've never quite heard before!

I have a question

My 3rd graders were lined up waiting for their teacher when a little girl asked,

"Okay, so if you were born in 1969 and now it's 209"
"2009" interrupts the whole class.
"okay, 2009. so if you were born in 1969 and now it's 2009. Is Stephanie Graff alive?"

Is this some riddle and I missed it??
How do those thoughts even go together?

What's Your Name?

In Kindergarten Spanish again this morning... when I was asked mid-class, "Mrs. Sawyer, what's your real name?"

"Well, my name is Mrs. Sawyer."

"no it isn't! That's your Spanish name! What's your real name?"

"My real name is Mrs. Sawyer."

"Oh. then what's your Spanish name?"

at least that's better than being called "teacher."

"My Grandma"

Yesterday was my grandma's 86th birthday!! (although last year she claimed dyslexia and said she was turning 58 - instead of 85- so I guess this year she is "59".)

Anyways, I mentioned this to my classes yesterday... which brought on an onslaught of grandma comments and stories! here are some of my favorites...

~ I told them that my grandma is very creative and artistic. The response from one boy was, "My grandma is nothing like your grandma."
"Oh is she not creative?" I asked.
"Nope, she's a smoker and a gambler."

~"My grandma hates cigarettes. Because when she was little she tried a cigar and it made her cough a lot. So now she says she's allergic to alcohol. But then she told me about a bar she goes to get a beer each week, so I don't really believe that she's allergic to alcohol." (what does any of that have to do with any thing else said? no clue)

~ "My grandma bakes a lot! She bakes pan dulce... cheesecake... donuts... just anything."

~ "My grandma has 2 cats. One is named Blue, but that's not creative because it just looks blue."

~"I have 3 grandmas: one with 5 children, one young one, and one old one. Which one do you want to hear about?" "All of them," I reply.
"okay. Well the old one doesn't do anything. She just sits in the chair and she really likes Pizza Hut."
"The young one cooks a lot. She makes cheese toast and cheese crackers and cake and anything."
He was interrupted with, "Does she make donuts?"
"Nope, maybe you can give her the recipe. And the one with 5 children, well she just has trouble talking on the phone because she has to yell at all 5 kids every 2 seconds. - then he puts on his mean grandma voice - GO TO BED. - sweet voice - now what were you saying??"

Unbelievable... note to self - kids listen!! Be careful what you say in front of them!! You never know when they will pass it on!

Kindergarten

Today in kindergarten Spanish, I had 2 of the most random and weird comments ever.

#1.
I was passing out posters to color, when I hear a little boy say, "Hurry up woman! You're taking forever!" (He, of course, got in trouble. But I couldn't wait for class to end so that I could laugh about it without him knowing.)

#2.
This little girl is going to Disney World. I'm not quite sure when though. She told me about her trip a few weeks ago and I made the mistake of telling her that I LOVE DisneyWorld and used to go every year because my grandma lives close by. I then told her about my favorite ride and the yummy ice cream on Main Street.

This was a mistake because she wants to talk about it and hear about my favorite ride EVERY time I see her now.

But today, she had a much different question. Instead of the daily, "About Disneyworld, what's your favorite ride?" question, today I was greeted with, "About Disneyworld, what's your grandma's name?"

"My grandma's name? oh, well she doesn't actually live IN Disneyworld, just close by."

"I know. But what's her name so I can meet her when I'm there?"

"oh okay, well, Elizabeth."

"great, I'm going to meet her. thanks."

(good luck)

Are You Tired?

On most school nights I go to bed between 9 and 10. I wake up early and have to have energy all day long, so its good to get to bed early.

Since spring break, I've not gone to bed until 10-10:30 each night. I'm pretty tired because of it. It's a bad habit and it's wearing me out.

Last night we had a re-scheduled soccer game for 9 pm. Yes, that's right. We were scheduled to BEGIN a 90 minute game at 9 PM. I did not really look forward to this, but I had to go. The team NEEDED me. (yeah, they needed me to kick the ball to the other team and lose it a lot and not score and run around and freeze my ears off. But that's for another post.)

So it ended about 11. I went home, showered, got in bed, and read some to unwind. I went to sleep near midnight.

Today, I'm tired. That's an understatement really. I'm so tired that I can't stop thinking about being tired. You know what I'm talking about?

When my 4th grade class walked in, the girls looked at me and said "are you tired?" "yes I am," I replied. I was then bombarded with these responses:

"we can tell because your hair is real messy."
"you don't look good."
"you keep yawning."
And my personal favorite, "Normally when you're happy, you're hair curls under more. but today it's just flat."

I think it's time for a nap.

Little Lukey

Oh Little Lukey. Yesterday was my brother-in-law's 18th birthday! oh he is just precious!!

Anyways, he is a senior at the school I teach at. Our school is kinder-12th, just in different buildings, but on the same campus. Last night, Lukey informed me he wanted 2 DVD's from our house. So I brought them to school today and told him to come to my room to get him. He's the office aid last period, so he just came on into my room.

I had a 1st grade class in here at the time. So after my previous conversation today, I decided to try again with this group of kids. I announced to the class, "This is my brother Luke (they don't really understand -in-laws at this age). Luke had a birthday yesterday. How old do you think he is?"

"12"
nope
"18"
YES!

Second try, not bad. So we sing happy birthday to Luke in Spanish. Then we sing our new Spanish song for him (yes I do a lot of singing in my classes, and no I'm not any good at it).

Then a little boys stands up and announces, "If I were to get you a birthday present, I would get you Transformers and some other DVD's that are PG-13!!! I'm not allowed to watch those!"

So sweet. kids love bigger kids. Luke left. We finished class. We lined up.

The littlest girl in class came up to me and said, "Your brother is cute." Then showed me her paper where she had a heart with "Luke Hot" written in it.

Oh it starts young.

How Old Are You?

"Mrs. Sawyer, how old are you?"

"How old do you think I am?"

"15"

"Nope, I'm not 15."

"SEE I TOLD YOU SHE'S NOT 15!!"

Bananas

Last week I went to Ann Taylor Loft to use a gift card- so exciting! Free shopping!! And they were having a sweater sale Buy 1, get 1 half off. So I bought 6. I had a gift card! And I actually wear cardigans to school MOST days- because my classroom temperature is unpredictable- so I like to have a cardigan- if it's Antarctica, I keep it on. If my room is Africa, I take it off. Very useful.

here was my new outfit yesterday. Love the happy yellow! Love the ruffle!!
So, one of my favorite 4th graders gives me a hug and looks me up and down and says "You look like a banana."
Oh. I just kind of looked at her, but didn't say anything.
So she quickly added, " A PRETTY banana."

Thanks. I like bananas. And now I am one.

ps- I wanted to share this story- so I set my camera on self timer and took this picture of myself in my classroom. Nerdy? yes. Important for the story? yes. And please don't look at the messy book cases- I have lost control.

Duh

The first day back from a long break I always let the kids share 1 thing they did over the break. It gives them a chance to tell the story, I get to learn more about each student, and then we get to have regular class without the many interruptions of "guess what I did over spring break..."

So today I had a 1st grade class back for the 1st time. They are adorable- their stories crack me up. I normally limit this "sharing" activity to about 10-15 minutes. But I was feeling pretty laid back today, so we just talked basically the whole class long.

anyways, there are these 2 precious little girls. they look nothing alike, but for some reason I always have to think extra hard about who is who- I think they sat next to each other at the beginning of the year and I've just never fully learned their names.

So I called Dana by the wrong name. I called her Lauren. But Lauren had just talked, so obviously she wasn't Lauren. I quickly corrected my self and then said "Uh, where's my brain?"

Loudly from the back, a boy stood up and said, "IN YOUR HEAD."

To which someone else added, "Behind your forehead."

Duh. Why didn't I think of that? Kids just don't get sarcasm do they?

A Great Day

I have this sweet boy in my 3rd grade class. Very sweet, very obedient. Not too good at Spanish. Fails most tests. Tries pretty hard, but it just doesn't always connect for him.

In my class, each Wednesday the kids do Spanish Literacy Centers. I put out 9 centers and they have a month to do as many as they can. Then I grade them. For February centers, this sweet little boy made a 100%! His first 100 in my class. As I graded the papers, I was genuinely excited about his score and couldn't wait to pass it back and see the look on his face. I was not disappointed!

I set the paper down in front of him, and he immediately said, "Today is a great day."

I pried deeper and asked, "Why is today a great day?" Fully expected the answer to be "my first 100" or "my first A" or something along those lines.

The answer was this, "I don't have to have my sister tomorrow."

"What? You don't have to have your sister? You mean she'll be gone tomorrow?"

"Yep! All day! She'll be with my grandma."

"And so that makes today good for you?"

"Yep."

huh. Well at least he's got his priorities straight. Hope he's enjoying today with no sister. And I'm sure he's already forgotten about that A.

Blast from the Past

So this story actually happened 3 years ago, but it's still funny today.

It was my first year teaching, I loved that class! 6 boys, 2 girls- 8 kids total. heaven. I loved those girls.

I also was learning what it felt like to wake up at 5:45 every day, and so discovered a new found love for coffee. I'd always enjoyed coffee, but that was the year I married coffee and could no long live without, not even for a little bit.

One morning, I arrived at school, got everything ready, was sipping my 3rd (or 4th) cup of coffee and waiting for my kiddos to arrive. They came. They were always awake in the morning. But they got to sleep later, so it makes sense.

Anyways, as they were doing their morning work, Abby looked up at me (sweet Abby) and says, "Miss Clarke (that was before I was married), are you tired this morning?"

"Well Abby, I'm tired most mornings, why?"

"Well, your hair's a mess and you don't have any make up on."

Thank you Abby- I feel very good about myself now.

If I Were...

As I was teaching some clothing words in Spanish today, a little boy raised his hand.

"Yes, David."

"If I were gloves, I'd be shy."

"You would? Why?"

"I don't know," as he turns beet red.

"Are you shy now?"

"No."

Even weirder is that we had just learned the word for coat and had not even gotten to gloves yet. Who knows what goes through those little minds.

Thanks... I Think

I was walking around the classroom, helping students, when 1 little 2nd grade girl motioned for me to come close. I leaned over, she whispered in my ear,

"You are very pretty." and then out loud, "But you have a small head."

I said, "well, thanks, I think I have small everything, I forgot to grow."

To which she replied, "well it's weird, because you have a big brain."

So... I guess thanks for the compliment?