Princess For A Day

During the last few minutes of class today I let the students occupy themselves--games, crafts, additional homework, whatever. It's Friday--we all need a break :)

One student decided she's really into making crowns. So she made a few and then made me one. She came over and put it on my head.

Student: Ms. S--I made you a crown.
Me: Oh yeah?
Student: Yeah.
Me: Well thank you.
Student: You're welcome. But remember, you are the Princess. I am the Queen.

Me: Good to know.

PEMDAS

In the spirit of continued prep for our state test, we worked on math today. We had this equation:  
                                 .25 (1/2 divided by 1/8)
                                     ______________ (divided again)
                                               2

Being the skilled mathematician that I am, I began to explain how to solve this equation.
The students had forgotten the age-old, PleaseExcuseMyDearAuntSally classic and so I reminded them:

Parenthesis
Exponent
Mutiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Dead-serious response from one kid: Well, I'm not EXCUSING anyone...I'll punch them in the face!

Minus the aggression, a well-placed comment :)

How To Save A Life

Nearing the end of my day today, I went to pickup one of my favorite students. He's adorable and always has good things to say. He emerged quite serious saying:

I just saved my friend's life.
Me: Oh really? (What could it possibly be this time seeing that last week the ambulance had come to school...)
Student: Yep. I just broke up this fight.

Think Before You Speak

I feel like I am constantly setting up a great joke; the only problem is, it's me that is the recipient. Not so good when you are the teacher...Today's:

Student: What's wrong with your bird, Ms. S? (Holding up my paper-made crane)
Me: What do you mean?
Student: Only one of the wings move.
Me: What can I say...it's a bit slow...
Student: Just like it's owner.

Yeah.

It's Personal

Student: Ms. Schmidt--I know why _________ got sent to the office.
Me: Oh yeah, why?
Student: It's personal.
Me: Uh huh. Then why did you tell me?
Student: I don't know.

I'm Gonna Hook You Up

No matter where I go or who I talk to, someone is always wanting to hook me up. I guess I just didn't expect this at work, at the middle school, more than once.

Student: Ms. S--who you like?
Me: What?
Student: Is he a tall, white guy? Black, Mexican, PR?
Me: (No response)

A few minutes later...
Me: Who do YOU like? Is he a tall white guy?
Student: No, he's a my-size Mexican.

Tolerance

As a school, the first day of each week we study character traits in our connections class. We are currently talking about tolerance. For today's activity I attempted to discuss traditional vs. non-traditional jobs and how tolerance is important within both. I went on to explain that there are certain jobs that are more often worked by males or females. Beside a list of jobs, I had the students write a M, F or X, assigning whether they thought an activity/job was typically masculine, feminine, or either (x). In order to get the blood flowing a bit I had them move from place to place around the room according to what they chose...
studying music
being interested in clothes
washing dishes
taking out the garbage...

Closing our conversation I asked the following:

"What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in a job where you are a minority? For instance, if you were a female mechanic, in a guy's world, what would be a benefit or challenge of this?"

One student gave a classic answer as he shook his head from side to side: Well, the men would benefit because they wouldn't hear all the nagging, nagging, nagging.

Didn't exactly answer the question...

Valentine's Day

Student: Ms. S, what are you doing for Valentine's Day?

Me: Nothing (thanks for reminding me...). I mean, I would love to get taken out to dinner, but...

Another student: I'll take you out to dinner, Ms. S.

Vegetable Soup

We are working on preparing for the ISTEP test in March at the middle school; quite a feat for sure. Today's assignment required the students to read an excerpt about a baker and asked them if this is a profession they would like to have. One student's response:

I would like to be a baker...If I were a baker I would make lots of money and then I could buy my family lots of things--a mustang, a house, a hot tub. Then I would know how to bake things for my family too--cake.

But I would also know how to make vegetable soup--
so they wouldn't get too fat.

Journal Entry: Feb 8, 2010

Today's Journal:

What are you two of your favorite things about yourself? What is one thing that you wish you could change about yourself?

One student's response:
I like that I am an athelete.
I like that I eat healthy--SOMETIMES.

Rachel Scott

Rachel Scott's Uncle came to our school on Wednesday this week. He shared the story of Rachel's death and how it has affected countless lives. His main challenge was for the kids to be a part of the chain reaction; the chain reaction of kindness, for kindness is much more effective than bullying. Although I wasn't able to attend the actual convocation, I heard numerous positive remarks about the morning and saw a group of hard kids "get it." I didn't want the moment to pass:

"I'm not going to lie, Ms. S. I cried" (said by a kid who doesn't believe in emotion).

"It was really sad" (said by a kid who believes that real men don't cry).

"How did she know she was going to die?"

"She stood up for so many people, Ms. S" (said by a kid who picks on others).

"I thought of someone I knew that had died and it was really sad" (said a student who recently lost a loved one).

"Ms. S, do you remember it happening?"

"They told us to tell our parents we love 'em because you don't know which day will be your last."

"It's important to be kind, isn't it, Ms. S?"

These statements turned into full fledged conversations and for a full day my classroom transformed into a skate park, a restaurant, or a nearby park--places where these kids could share their hearts and be heard. To say it was powerful is quite the understatement.

For more information on Rachel's life or her ongoing ministry, check out:
http://www.rachelschallenge.org/

I Almost Got Kidnapped Once

Student: I almost got kidnapped once.

Me: Oh really? (Trying not to gasp).

Student: Yep. I was at McDonald's and this old guy came up to me, asked me what I wanted to eat. He bought my food. And then I think he was going to kidnap me. But I knew I was safe because I was in McDonalds and no one gets kidnapped while eating there. At least I got free food out of it.

The Pigeon Finds A Hotdog

After a sleepless night and a discouraging morning with my middleschoolers, I was simply hoping to make it to 3:30. Then enter my second-grader, the one with bouncy hair. She brought with her the book, "The pigeon finds a hotdog (written by the same author of, "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!", a personal fav).

We read this funny book and laughed together. After we finished I asked her to write a sentence about the story in her journal and if she wanted, she could draw something too. I decided I wanted to try and re-create these adorable little birds (there is a duckling in the book as well).

We drew for a few moments and I decided to write Ms. S under the drawing of the pigeon and her name under the picture of the duckling. We both cracked up at that and I realized that was the first time I laughed today. We both finished our pictures and I asked if we could trade. Kids art is so much better than grown-up art, although she praised my crayon drawing immensly.

A cheerful heart IS good medicine.

Encouragement Cards: Part 2

I received a second note today from two of my girls pretending to be one of their brothers, the 28 year-old, whom I should date. His note said:

To: That teacher
From: ***

Call me then I can be your boo. ***-***-****
Available at 12:00

P.S. That's after work

Great One-Liners

Student: Ms. S. Have you ever seen a walking horse?

Student: DANG!
Me: What?
Student: Ms. S. Is that girl only in the 6th grade?
Me: Yep. I think so.
Student: Why do Mexicans always look older?

Student: Ms. S?
Me: Yeah.
Student: You wanna date my brother? He's 28.
Me: No, I'm alright. Thanks though.
Student: You just let me know, a'igh?
Me: Will do. Will do.
Student: Can Mexicans have afros?


Student: I can make the whole town of Mexico from rice crispies.
I am a Scientist.


Student: The reason the Colts lost is because they left me behind.

Student: Ms. S. I ate lipgloss once. It tasted like fudge.

Student: Ok. I'll take my time out. I'm going to China.

Me: This is really important--Thomas Jefferson was one of our founding fathers.
Student: He isn't my father.

Student: Ms. S. I can break into this girl's locker.

Student: Ms. Schmidt? Can I get a drink of water?
Me: Why?
Student: Because my neck is dry.

Encouragement Cards

Today I asked my middleschoolers to create encouragement cards today for their fellow classmates. After a few groans and sighs, they finally settled down to write, draw, fold, tape, and glue.

Student: Ms. S. How do you spell your name?
Me: M-I-S-S S-C-H-M-I-D-T
Student: That's weird.
Me: Yep. I am all about weird names. It's German.
Student: Ah ha.

A few moments later.
Student: Here you go, Ms. Schmidt.
Me: What?
Student: I wrote you a letter. But you can't read it until it's mail delivery time.
Me: Mail delivery time?
Student: Yeah.
Me: Ok. Let me know when, ok?

She forgot about it, but later when she wasn't looking I snuck over to grab the note from my mailbox and read the following:

Miss Schmidt,
hey gurl. whats up me here!
let me tell you...you mean so much to me I can tell you anything...thats awesome.
you make me happy.
i love to come to you class because you make me understand things better.
g2g ttul

Grandfadder

My second group of kids that I see on Mondays are Kindergartners. There are three of them, two boys and a girl, and boy they are darling. Today after we spent some time on our spelling (yes there are two letters in the word ON), we rewarded ourselves with a rousing game of Go Fish (see below blog for more on this exciting game). 

Instead of using legit Go Fish cards, we made it a bit more educational and used speech cards (ah yes, education and yet fun--amazing!). 

Todays words had the TH sound in them. I passed out the cards and we began. 

Student: (Looking puzzled) Hey, do you have an old man?

Other student: An old man?

Me: Wait, "old man" doesn't have the TH sound in it, does it?

Student: No.

Me: So let me see the card. It says Grandfather.

Student: Oh, Grandfadder?

Me: GrandfaTHer. Everyone try that.

We tried that a few times and let's just say that we will need to continue practicing that one this spring...

The next student took his turn. 

Next student: Hey, Ms. S.

Me: Yeah?

Next student: I have a Grandfadder.

Me: (I stiffled a laugh). Oh yeah?

Next student: Yeah. He lives with my Grandmudder.