It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood. Actually, NO.

I like Scholastic Book Clubs. Yes I do. For 3 reasons. And here they are:
1. They allow my kiddos to buy books for a dollar.
2. They give me bonus points so I can buy books for my kids at Christmas time. (Even though I do get most of those points for the billions of books I buy myself...not for myself, but for my ever-expanding classroom library. I am trying REALLY hard not to buy any more books for the classroom library. Not because I don't like books, of course, but because I have no more space in my room. Which means I am also not allowed to go to Goodwill anymore, because when I do, I somehow find 50 children's books that must be bought. They just jump out at me. I do believe I have a problem.)
3. And last, but not least, I love Scholastic Book Clubs because they have "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" on sale for $4.00. Right now. So...go buy it. Now. No, don't buy it yourself. Just tell me you want it, give me $4.00, and I will totally order it for you. And then I will get your bonus points! haha. Yes, it is a kids book, but it is sooo good. It was written by Kate DiCamillo, the author of "The Tale of Despereaux". And I love it just as much as my kids do. It is one of those books that makes you happy, sad, excited, mad....it makes you feel. I love books like that, and I can't wait to read it to my kids this year. Yes, it is about a rabbit made of china, but trust me. It is wonderful.


Day 9
I sent the Scholastic book order forms home with my 19 chih'ren and told them they would have a couple of weeks to bring money in if they wanted to buy a book. The next morning, when I asked if anyone had brought money for book orders, one student came up to me and said, "Can you buy a book with a quarter?" "No, you have to have 4 quarters" was my reply. (The cheapest book is $1.00.) "Oh, well, can I have a quarter?" See, I do have smart kids!

The classroom library. I have over 15 bins of books now. Lotsa books.

This was also computer day. My students don't ask, "Miss Harris, are we going to computer today?" Instead, I hear...."We goin' to pyutah today?" Yeah, we have a lotta work ta do.

Day 10
Imagine me introducing new vocabulary words. Now, imagine two of the words are 'share' and 'wonderful'.

*Share*
Me: "What is something you share?"
Lil' girl: "my sister"
Me: "You share your sister with somebody?"
Lil' girl: "No, I shared my cookie with my sister."

*Wonderful*
Question: "What is a word that means the opposite of wonderful?"
Answer: "cold and hot"

Day 11
Random Writing Prompt: Write about your life as a bug that no one likes.
My favorite responses:
Mean bug: "If I was a bug, I will bit you. yes i wud. you is bad."
Confused bug: "I like to be a bug. I live to be a bug. But I have to be a bug. I don't want to be a bug."

Question: "What is the action part of the sentence that tells us what the subject is doing?"
Answer: "Predators!!" (Yes, every sentence has a subject and a predator. English just got much more exciting.)

Day 12
When I told my students to write 'Pre-test' at the top of their paper, I also wrote it on the board so they could see it and spell it correctly. As I was calling out the Spelling words for the Pre-test, I walked around the room, looking at students' papers. This is when I noticed one student wasn't taking a Pre-test at all. Her paper said "free test". Nope, I don't even make my students pay for their tests. Free. of. charge.

Random 3rd grade boy in the lunch line: "Ooooo, I like your dress! No. I don't like it. I love it!"

We were reviewing our vocabulary words for the week. When I got to the word 'wonderful', I said, "Mr. Rogers always says, 'It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood, wonderful day in the neighborhood...would you be my neighbor?" I asked them if they had ever seen 'Mr. Rogers' before, and one student said, "Yes. He had some dogs in the tunnel. I remember from when I was a baby." Okayyy....he has a MUCH better memory than me. I do not remember the dogs in the tunnel. And apparently I don't even remember the song. Because I just looked it up and realized he doesn't even use the word 'wonderful'. It's not a wonderful day in the neighborhood. It's a BEAUTIFUL day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor. I misquoted Mr. Rogers. How! And he also says, "It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood???? What?! I have never heard that before in my life. Of this, I'm sure. Yeah, they changed the song. Crazy Mr. Rogers. Yeah, I know about your tattoo, Mr. Rogers. I have heard all about you.

Day 13
I was looking over the student information sheets when I noticed how a parent wrote my name. I am not Miss Harris anymore. I am Mrs. Harriest.

And now for a review of how the song actually goes.....

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?... It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood, A neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?... I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So, let's make the most of this beautiful day. Since we're together we might as well say: Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor? Won't you please, Won't you please? Please won't you be my neighbor?

Won't You Be My Neighbor By Fred M. Rogers © 1967

Pledgaleetions

Day 8:
After going over the sound -tion makes at the end of a word (shun), I asked for more examples of words with -tion at the end. Someone said 'cooperation'. Another student said 'station'. Then, one of them said 'pledgaleetions'. (Yes, pledgaleetions, like...I pledgaleetions to the flag.) This reminds me of my childhood bedtime prayers....back when I thought nowalaymee was one word. Nowalaymee down to sleep, I pray, thee, Lord, my soul to keep. Kids. Crazy, crazy kids.

My students get 25 minutes for lunch. 25 minutes from the time they walk into the cafeteria until they leave, so definitely not 25 minutes of eating time. It takes a little while to get through the line. So, they have 20 minutes if they are lucky. And by the time I get them through the line with freshly Germ-Xed hands, walk to my room, do whatever needs to be done and make it back to the teacher's lounge, get my food, and sit down, I'm super lucky if I have 10 good minutes. Often, I scarf down my ham and cheese sandwich in 5. I used to just skip lunch and eat peanut butter crackers during my planning period, but now that I can eat super duper fast, I like to give myself those sweet 5 minutes. I just have to remember not to talk too much. Because...the sandwich cannot disappear in 2 minutes. Gotta have 5. Anyway, when exiting the lunch room on this particular day, one student came up to me and said, "Miss Harris, I missed you." Missed me? Missed me? I just saw you 2 seconds ago. That's what I was thinkin'. But, at the same time, isn't that sweet? She missed me. For those 5 minutes I was gone, she missed me. Haha...yes, I feel loved.

One student was absent the day before, so I had her stay behind and do make-up work for the first half of P.E. time. She said, "Miss Harris, here go your birthday present. I've had for years. I want you to have it." As she was saying this, she slowly unwrapped a red dry erase marker from a piece of crumpled notebook paper. Best birthday present ever. And it wasn't even my birthday. Who else gets random gifts from sweet children one month before their actual b-day?? Oh, and while we're at it, who else gets at least 10 notes per day telling you how great you are? "You are the best teacher ever." "I love you, Miss Harris." Nobody but a teacher. Yes, my job has its perks. And my kids are pretty lovely. When they want to be.

:0)

I don't know if you know this, but 2nd graders have a 2 second attention span. For real. Like, for real for real. They want to spin pencils, talk, cut up paper, tear apart erasers, talk, kill crayons, break their pencil leads, write notes, talk, lean back in their chairs, tap their rulers on their desks, glue their hands together, flip through pages in books, and talk. Fidgety, fidgety, fidgety. All day long. K, so I see that students are not paying attention, and I say, "Your eyes need to be glued on me. If I'm over here, your eyes are over here. If I'm over here, (moved to other side of room), your eyes should be here. Your eyes are glued on me." One student then reaches her hand into her desk, pulls out her glue, removes the cap, and tries to glue her silly eye balls. Yeah, I shoulda seen that one coming.  For sure.

Justin Beaver

Day 3:
Quote of the day: "Miss Harris, your hair look like it's as soft as a marshmallow."

Day 4:
This is the day I had my kiddos complete an interest inventory so I could get to know them better. They had some pretty good answers, I must say....

When I grow up, I want to be a....alligator.
I often wonder about....Justin Beiber.
If I had 3 wishes, I would wish for....I don't have school, I have all the candy, and be a super hero.
Three of my favorite foods are....hot wings, peas, and deer.
My two favorite television shows are...Chuky and Chucy.
When it rains, I.....drink hot cofe (coffee).
If I had 3 wishes, I would wish for....snow, water park, and Justin Beiber.
My favorite book character is....Miss Harris.
I have always wanted to visit....Miss Harris.
When I grow up, I want to be a....Miss Harris.
When it rains...me and my brother rap.
If I could be anyone for a day, I would like to be...bus driver.
I like to collect....gold.

This is also the day that I told my students I have a little brother who is 12, about to be 13. Question asked by student immediately thereafter: "Are you older than him?" Apparently I  look 11. :o(

Day 5:
Quote of the day: "Miss Harris, he said he was gonna put me in the trash can and roll me down the hill."

This may have also been the day that I found a packet of silica gel in the Homework Folder basket. Random.

Day 6:
Student: "Yesterday was my dog's birthday."
Me: "Really? How old is he?"
Student: "Ummmmm...9 months, I think."

Day 7:
We were about to go to the library for the first time of the year, so I had to go over a few things.
"Don't forget, there are 2 'r' sounds in library. It's li-BRary, not li-berry. 38 little eyes stare at me in disbelief. "WHAT??? Li-brary? I thought it was a liberrian." "Liblairy?! Liblairy?! I cain't say it."

Student 1: "He said my momma ugly."
Student 2: "Well, she said my head look like Justin Beaver. And she also said I look like Justin Beaver's wife."
Me: "First of all, it's Justin BEIBER. Second of all, he's not married! And when did this happen anyway?"
Student 2: "In the li-berry."

Let the Games Begin! The first days of schooooooool! O_o

Every day, my kiddos say things that crack me up. They make me smile. They make me laugh. And quite often, they don't know why. So, here is my first collection of thoughts from Room 23. The land of the 2nd graders. Random happenings and funny quotes from my sweet lil chilluns:

Day 1:
I had students write a paragraph about what they did this summer. To give them ideas, I asked lots of questions. "Who went swimming this summer?" "Who slept in?" "Who played video games?" "Who went on vacation?" "Who ate chocolate?" "Who went sky diving?" Of course, every single time I asked a question, 19 little hands shot up as fast as a blink. They had ALL done EVERTHING I suggested. Everything. Then, when it was time to get down ta writin', half of them could not think of even two things they did all summer. "I only did one thing," is what I heard. All summer long. One thing. I slept in. I didn't eat. I didn't walk. I didn't swim. I didn't play. I didn't talk. I JUST slept in. So, anyway, time's a'tickin', and the kids are a'writing...well at least attempting. And...a hand goes up. "Miss Harris," I hear, "How do you spell D.S.?" (Like...Nintendo D.S.!) I look at her, and I say, "Sorry, but I can't tell you. You're gonna have to think about that one." Then, she looks up, thinks REAL hard, a light bulb dings, and she says, "Ohhhhhhh! Deeee. Essss." Blonde blonde blonde. But I love her.

Day 2:

This is the day of the glyphs. And let me tell you about glyphs. Glyphs are neat ways to organize data. They are really great for the beginning of the year because they can be used as a "Getting to Know You" activity. We made faces. If you are 7, get an orange face. If you are 8, get a green face. If you are a boy, get a hat. If you are a girl, get a bow. Curved eyebrows mean you own a pet. Straight eyebrows mean you don't. Your ears are your favorite color. The number of freckles you have tells me how many people live in your house. Two peppermint eyes mean you have two or more siblings. One spearmint, one peppermint means you have two siblings. Two butterscotches means one sibling. Two spearmints means you are an only child. Your nose tells me if you have ever lived in another state. The shape of your mouth tells me if you are right-or-left-handed. Your hair color represents your favorite subject. That was the glyph I came up with. Of course, you have to have a key, so they can see what each item stands for. When glyphs are completed, you can ask questions about each student: "How old is Asia?" "What is Chandler's favorite color?", etc., etc.

When finished, one of my students turned to another and said, "Hey, look! Mine look like Jo Jo Brown." He was in fact referring to Judge Joe Brown, which I found quite funny.

Jo Jo Brown (a.k.a. Judge Joe Brown)

Thinking the glue was dry, I put the glyphs on the wall outside of our room for all the world to see. That is when all my lovely faces began to cry. Apparently, the glue was very much not dry. So. The next day, I came in the school to find the hallway by my door littered with thousands of peppermints, butterscotches, and spearmints. NOT FUN TO CLEAN UP. And then I looked at the faces. Sweet little eyeless faces with tears streaming down. The glue had streamed and the eyes had fallen off. If you are reading this and you are a teacher, please do not be as silly as me and use real candy. Make them draw the eyes. Needless to say, on day 3, we got to fix new eye balls and scrape off tears. Now, they look all pretty again. And maybe they will be less likely to attract ant friends. Hope so.