Gobble Gobble

When talking about ethnicity in one of my classes, one student tried to tell me about his heritage…

Hey, I’m part Turkey!

… an honest mistake, and a good teachable moment for the suffix -ish. Still, hilarious.

Amusing Responses

As I’ve mentioned before, I teach kids with specific communication difficulties, so I probably shouldn’t find some of their wordings as amusing as I do, but I also suppose it’s good to keep a light heart…

With that in mind, here are some amusing answers:

1. Who is Joe? How did he get to California?

Joe is an African American man who was a slave. He got to California by escaping the slavery place.

From vocabulary sentences:

appraising – measuring the worth of something

In math I am appraising with a watch.

forsake – to give up on or betray

The Ipod will never forsake his friend, the Ipad.

bounty – numerous good things

After homework, I get a bounty of TV.

 

 

Welcome back from break!

One of my students started my week off with this joke:

Why was the math book sad?

It had too many problems!

This, of course, called for an instant rimshot.

Quotes before break

I daresay I’m as fried as the kids. Spring break starts after dismissal tomorrow, and it cannot come soon enough!

To cheer us through the last twenty-four hours, here are some quotes. Enjoy!

 

“May I get a drink? I feel like a cactus.” – 4th grade boy

***

“Can I have funny? Because that’s what I am.” – request made by 4th grade boy when choosing words for a synonym game

***

“I’m not going to be here tomorrow.” -5th grade girl

“Why not?” -me

“I have to go to a mountain!” She cracks up. “I don’t even know what that means!”-5th grade girl

I’m baaaaack!

Sorry for the radio silence as of late. March can be a tough time – conferences, objectives, report cards, and IEP/ISP meetings have swallowed much of my time. Working on my increasingly beautiful new home has taken up the rest.

The kids remain as hilarious as ever. Today, I received two different notes from fifth graders, each of them purposely made to look like they were trying to forge a note from their parents. No, I did not word that in an unnecessarily complicated manner. The part they found hilarious was making it obvious that they were the ones writing the note… making a big show during snack of writing it and of using bad grammar and spelling and whatnot.

The first went like this:

Please let me go to school. I need to learn about scientific proof about precipatation. I have a WEdding to go to so Ms. Trison please not forpoint.

From (—)

My reply, on the same piece of paper:

Dear (student’s name),

What???

From,

Mrs. Tryson

The second one read:

Dear Mrs tryson

do not Let me go to school today I have a dog apointment please not atte ym niotps today.

The explanation she gave for the second part was that she was trying to write the note backwards. It came out sideways.

My job is so surreal sometimes. I find myself uttering sentences that I never thought would come out of someone’s mouth. “Why are you dancing the hula in your chair?” “So you’re saying you’re secretly a squirrel.” “She has a wedgie, get over it.”

I’m looking forward to regaining my appreciation for the hilarity. As the overwhelming workload lightens, that should be more possible.

Sick day

So, I’m sick. Sick enough to take two days off of work, which hardly ever happens. I went into school yesterday morning under the classic assumption, made at six a.m., that it was just a cold and that I’d feel better after being awake for an hour or so. That assumption was wrong.

By seven-thirty, I’d already text messaged my assistant director, asking him to get me a sub for the  day. I did my morning duty, got the sub oriented, and prepared to leave. One of my first period fourth graders overheard the sub tell me to get plenty of rest. So, naturally, as I walked out the door, he calls after me:

“Hey, Mrs. Tryson, rest in peace!”

I did take the time to explain, in my strangled-not-really-there-voice, that I appreciated the sentiment but that it wasn’t correct to phrase it that way. I was definitely chuckling on the inside, though.

I’m still home, and still run-down, and my voice really isn’t back yet. I’m sick of being sick!

Synonym Scavenger Hunt

My classroom does not really make a good case for proving my sanity right now. If you were to walk in through my door, one of the first things you’d see is this:

Yes, at first glance, it appears that I’ve labeled my printer “automobile.” No, I haven’t completely lost my vocabulary skills.

I actually set up an ongoing game/activity for my reading classes, in which I have a stack of index cards with “simple” words on them, like “funny,” “sad,” etc.

Around my room, I’ve taped fancier synonyms for these words. Examples for the ones in this picture include “hilarious,” “considerate,” “stroll,” “canine,” “automobile,” and “luminous.”

 

 

At the beginning of class, as they walk through the doorway, each child receives a card. He or she has to find the matching synonym and return both cards to me before he or she is allowed to sit down to begin class.

Today, it went well. Moving forward? We’ll see how it goes. I’m reaching for any fun entertaining way to expand these kids’ vocabularies and to make them really think about their word choices.

Like, OMG.

Well, folks, the day has finally come. This is what the answers in my sixth grade have come to:

4. How does Miss Harris react to Gilly?

Miss Harris is like OMG when she caught Gilly in the hallway.

 

Oh, my homeroom…

Kid 1: Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Me: Of course I believe in Santa Claus.

Kid 2: Do you believe in harmony?

Me: Of course I believe in harmony.

Kid 3: What’s harmony? What’s harmony? What’s harmony? What’s harmony?

Me: When two notes sound nice together.

Kid 3: Well, that’s dumb. Of course harmony exists!

Main Idea Activities

I’ve been doing a review in a few of my classes recently, so I’ve been back to touching on Main Idea. In my search for resources, I found that BrainPop has this excellent video. Under “Activities,” they have a few excellent worksheets. I particularly liked the Inverted Pyramid graphic organizer.

This game over at Harcourt Publishers was good, but I was disappointed at how quickly it goes by. I’d love to find a similar game that could allow for more turns at the smart board.

I haven’t used it with my classes yet, but this Main Idea Song is cute. One of my classes is still struggling with details as opposed to main ideas, so I may break it out for them later this week.

If you have any fun suggestions for Main Idea, I’d love to hear them – feel free to share in the comments below.