dungeons, x-rays, extinction and other strange things

A few quick stories, and a few points of frustration:

As it is now, the part about teaching that I like the least, is getting dressed in the morning. I adore "casual Fridays" or as I call them "jean day". I really don't have enough formal clothing and really prefer to be comfortable, especially when around kids!

Also, although it is true that I am now a primary teacher, and am becoming more and more teachery as the days go by ("now Jeff, it's Kathy's turn to talk"), it is beyond me why everything I bring into my classroom needs to be cute. "Buy this adorable apple-shaped timer to easily keep track of minutes in games and activites!" Give me a break. I don't want a cute timer, I just want one that works and isn't going to have it's adorable little leaf handle break off. In case you haven't noticed, there are boys in my class. They may be little but they certainly aren't into cute. Not to mention the fact that I'm not a child! Can't I have things on my desk that I think are cool, or funky? Sigh...I think I might be a little too cynical. Already! I think a contributing factor to this point of frustration is the excessive use of comic sans. I'm doing my best to stick with Century Gothic.

Ah well, such is life. On to the stories.

I made a bin for the kids to put their finished work in that says "DONE!" on the side. So I am always saying things like, "when you're finished your worksheet, put it in the done bin". Well, one little darling, who has the best sense of humour, came up to me, with this very mischievious look on her face and said, "When we're done, are we supposed to put our sheet in the dungeon??" At first I thought she was just asking me where to put her work. And I was a little annoyed, since I'd just told them. But she repeated herself, "In the DUNGEON???" I laughed hysterically. She is hilarious.

As is inevitable, the students wanted to find out how old I am. They had guesses everywhere from 30 to 50. When they finally figured out my real age, one of them exclaimed "Wow, you're young for a grown-up!" :)

Some kids are just random. Sitting beside a kid during nutrition break (aka lunch, but we have it twice a day instead of once), we were talking about x-rays. He told me that he'd had an x-ray once, of his head no less. Yes, it happened while he was inside his mom. They needed to make sure that his head was okay because his brother was always sitting on it! (Ah ha, you have a twin! I said.) And now, he still asks his brother to sit on his head. Only now his head is on the kitchen floor! Random!!

I'm not sure if this is appropriate for bloggerland, but, they were coming in from recess and one boy came up to me and informed me that another student in our class was upset because he fell and scraped his balls. The boy telling me didn't laugh; in fact he didn't really seem to think there was anything strange about what he was telling me. Alright, I said.

We were talking about how humans can harm animals, and I wanted to tell them a bit about pollution, and how wasting paper can lead to animals losing their habitats etc. etc. I asked if anyone knew what extinct meant. One very sweet girl put up her hand. "Extinct is when an animal disappears, but you can still see the bones, and then someone hides the bones". Excellent.

Truly, there is no end of amusement...

Week One

Well, after one week with the grade twos I have a few short stories to tell.

1. I often say "excusé moi" instead of "excuse me". I said this to a student and the student said in an offended tone of voice, "This isn't french class!!"

2. My teaching partner always gives the kids a high five at the end of the day as they walk out of the classroom. I decided I should do something different, so I tried pound it, instead of high five. Do you know what I mean? When you just knock fists with someone? So I told the kids to do this. Well, my assumption that they knew what I was talking about was clearly wrong. Most of them wound up and punched my knuckles as hard as they possibly could. They we quite red by the end of it. I'll have to work on that...

3. One of the great things about teaching grade two is that they get excited about almost everything. As long as your excited, and use exciting words, they get totally into it. So a lot of mornings we play this game called Sparkle, where the kids sit in a circle and spell their spelling words, each students saying one letter. When the word is spelled, the next person says "sparkle" and the student after them is out. Anyways, they love playing this game. So I decided to spice it up, since they knew their spelling words pretty well already, and add in some other words from around the classroom. I told them this and they were thrilled. So I called out the usual words for them to spell and then threw in "October". In unison they all said "Oooooh!!!" and spelled it. I called out "math". "Aaaaaaaah!!" they cried. "Routine". "Yaaaaaaa!". They were hilarious. And all just about a little spelling game. Amazing.

So it begins. Of course there is a LOT to think about, but I'm having a good time, and the class is wonderful.