The things kids say....

I've always had students who have said things that have made me stop in my tracks (yes, swear words have been a larger number of those) or laugh out loud, but this year's class makes me belly laugh at least once a day and have often saved me from giving in to the hurt in my personal life (read the other blog - chronically single - to see that). This morning, one of my sweet little kids came in and was so excited because she had been to her big brother's concert the night before. She literally bubbled and flitted into class. It made me smile just to see and then our morning greeting went something like this:

Her: Miss Collins, I got to go to a concert last night!!!

Me: Oh wow, that's great!

Her: Yea, my brother was doin' it!

Me: So he was with the 4th graders?

Her: Yea! And he had a recordian... all the kids had a recordian!

Me (stifling a laugh): A recordian?

Her: Yea! The recordians were so cool...

Me: um... so it's a recorder, sweetie.

Her: Yea... recorder! (face red, laughing at herself)

I love my students... I have one who thinks that it is October or January every day and every day is Monday or Friday... I love her to pieces!!! *sigh* oh the things that kids say! Please share yours in my comments... I love sharing those funny stories.

Sticking Up for Others...

Today I was so proud of my students. While they were out on the playground (doing what kids do when it is sunny out), another student from another class said something a little mean to one of the girls in my class. One of the little boys was incensed about the whole thing. He went up to the offender, pushes him and gives him the business. He literally put his finger in the kid's face, tells him that we don't use mean words and that it is unacceptable... aside from the push, I have NEVER been prouder of a five year old in my life!!!

When the walls yakked up red, white and blue!

One of the things that I alternately love and hate about the US is the patriotism. I love how much the people of this country are behind their country, how much they love it and how much they aren't afraid to shout it from the roof tops. I won't discuss why I dislike it... but I also wanted to share the patriotism going on in my school right now. The kindergartners are learning a great deal about US symbols, historical figures and songs that celebrate their heritage. Now, it's not easy as a Canadian to teach all that, but I will say that I am learning a lot about these neighbours to the south that are letting me hang out here for a while.

Questions...

So today I decided to start my unit on living things with my students. We talked a little about the things that they knew about living things (it was a little like pulling teeth with this class) and then I asked what they wanted to know about living things and they blew me away with great questions!! I don't know if you can read them, but they were really cool.

Mapping it up!

Teaching maps is part of the curriculum for kindergarten here in the US and I usually do a three dimensional model map on a table for the students to use, but I just don't have the space for that here so we did something different! One of my teammates puts her map up on the wall and makes buildings out of paperbags! Great idea, right?! I thought so, so that's what the picture is. The kids really liked making it and they love seeing it on display in our hallway.