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