While hurrying down the school hallway one morning the week before Christmas vacation, I came upon two second grade girls leaning against the wall chatting. I stopped to speak, and they informed me that they were both on their way to see Nurse Connie. One said she had a sprained ankle, and it was hurting more than usual because she had stumbled while getting out of the car that morning. The other said that she'd hit her leg on a bus seat, causing pain. At this point they started walking toward the nurse's office, but not just regular old walking, mind you. The girl with the sprained ankle hobbled, and the other swooped her unbent leg out to the side in a circular motion. "She's having surgery," said the shorter girl with the ankle pain, nodding in her friend's direction. "I'm just going to the doctor, but she's having surgery." The funny part of this story is that there was no surgery scheduled, nor any NEED for such a thing. These two little characters were just ready for Christmas break to hurry up and get here and were seizing any excuse to liven up their monotonous last week of school routine. I do believe I just encountered two drama queens in the making!
During our recent problem-solving unit, I taught the kindergartners a series of questions to ask themselves when they're deciding what to do. I also made sure they learned about how a conscience and a brain can help us and are aware of the comforting fact that they're always with us, even when grown-ups aren't around to tell us what to do. We talked about how we can't run away from our conscience and our brain. If we go to New York City, they go with us. If we go flying high above the clouds, they go with us. If we go scuba diving in the deep blue sea, they go with us, etc. Well this morning, we reviewed those teachings before starting a new unit. Seeing a raised hand, I called on a small dark-eyed boy sitting in a child's rocking chair. Without cracking a smile, he said, "Miss Mimi, I didn't bring my conscience to school today."
Realizing that this was gonna be fun, I said in a serious tone, "Well where is it?"
He replied, "I think I lost it."
"Where do you think it might be?" I asked.
"I don't know. Probably in the garbage," he said.
"So if you see a twenty dollar bill lying on the floor, you're just gonna steal it?" I asked, referring to an example we had talked about in our previous lesson.
Giving me a quizzical look, the child answered, "Why no!"
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because stealing's wrong," he replied.
Grinning, I said, "So your conscience IS at school with you, because that's why you wouldn't take the money!"
Today I passed this same elfin child in the hallway and asked, "Hey, is your conscience at school today?"
Flashing a smile, he said, "No!"
"Where is it?" I said.
"Still in the garbage!" he answered.
What a character. I'm sure we'll enjoy coming back to this conversation again and again as the school year goes on!
Clever card from a first grade boy: Lip balm along with the message "Have a Merry Kissmas and a Chappy New Year!"
I got a little overjoyed in kindergarten guidance class today. Maybe it was the Christmas spirit, but I found myself acting way too silly. I did a cheer for the class when they did something I was proud of, got them all laughing, and then realized I really needed to stop clowning around and start teaching. Pointing my bossing finger at myself, I said, "Mimi, calm down this instant. Stop acting silly and start teaching these children immediately! You are getting them entirely too riled up, and no learning whatsoever is occurring!" In the midst of the giggles, one fair-skinned girl's comment stood out. In a squeaky voice, I heard her call out, "What the HELL??" I might have second-guessed my ears and wondered if she'd really uttered those exact words, but a chubby child behind her reached up, grabbed her arm to pull her back a bit, looked her in the face, and said, "Don't say that bad word!" This confirmed what I thought I'd heard, but fortunately, the other students were so busy laughing that they didn't notice a thing out of the ordinary. To that, I say, "Whew!"
In kindergarten guidance class yesterday, we had a story called Ruthie and the Not So Teeny Tiny Lie, which was about using your conscience to help you do the right thing. Before reading the book, I handed out several puppets that corresponded with the animal characters in the story. Selected students chose a pig, a gray tabby cat, a fox, an aardvark, a duck, a bear, a lamb, and a little white rabbit. Refocusing the children's attention before I began to read, I reminded them that we were learning about using our consciences to help make decisions. Repeating the book's title, I said that it gave us evidence of what the book would be about. "Do you think it will it be about good or bad behavior?" I asked. As children began to respond in chorus, one particular answer stood out. A golden-haired child in the back row held her lamb puppet high and enthusiastically belted out, "Baa-aaa-d!" Bleating like a lamb...how quick and clever!
The other day, I was meeting with a couple of siblings, a boy and a girl. The freckle-faced girl came into my room carrying her snack in a zip-lock bag. Noticing that her brother didn't have one, she offered to share hers with him. "No thanks," he said. "I just had mine...pirate's booty." Giggling, his sister said, "That's popcorn, Miss Mimi." Repeating the name and snickering, she continued, "Booty...that's funny!" "Well booty can actually have two meanings," I said. The snack means pirate's TREASURE, and then there's that other meaning, the one you're laughing about. Shaking her head and laughing up a storm, the little girl kept repeating, "Booty, that's funny!" With an exasperated look on his handsome face, her spikey-haired brother looked at her and said, "Now Sissy, would you say that in front of MOMMY?" Grinning, I said, "Good point, Brother! And if she wouldn't say it in front of MOMMY, she probably shouldn't be saying it in front of MIMI, either!"
