From the mouths of babes...

Many mornings, I am greeted by coloring pages and art projects that are "for you Mrs. Barnett!" and I am beginning to run out of wall space in the one area I keep them.  This morning one of my friends came in with a drawing in an envelope and everything.  It was a picture of a house, swing set, and several stick people.  I asked her about the picture and this was our conversation:

Me: "So who are all the people in the picture?"

Her: "Well, that's you, your husband, your two kids, your house and your dog."

Me: "(Laughing) Oh it is huh?  So, I don't have any kids, does that mean I am going to have two kids one day?"

Her: "You DO have two kids Mrs. Barnett.  You have two kids growing in your belly RIGHT NOW."

Me: "I don't know about that.  I don't know if I am ready for TWO."

Her: "Well you better get ready because you are having them."

Me: "Well who is this other person in the picture?"

Her: "Oh, that is the robot that lives in your house and takes care of it."

Me: "Well, if I have two kids, I am going to need a robot!"

Wondering (and somewhat worried) if this child has some strange sixth sense.  Guess we'll find out eventually!

Mrs. Barnett...he said the "S" word...

I can't tell you how many times a day I hear 5 and 6 year olds say my name.  It doesn't matter how many times we practice raising their hands, they still just can't help themselves.  I always cringe a little when I hear my name followed by "he/she did ________" (fill in the blank with some action considered egregious by a 5 year old).  So the other day I was especially nervous when I heard the dreaded "Mrs. Barnett, he just said the "S" word!"  I had seen other veteran teachers handle this, so I quietly leaned over and said "Okay, whisper the word he said so I can talk to him about it."  The child's response was (in a hushed voice) "he said STUPID."  Now don't worry, I did still talk to the child about using the word stupid, but I would be lying if I said I didn't breathe a sigh of relief when that was the "S" word we were dealing with, and not the one that was in my head.  I guess it's all about perspective at 5 and 6 years old.  Innocence is bliss.

Not in the mood...

This morning when we were getting ready to go to PE, I had a little girl tell me this...

"Mrs. Barnett...I'm really not in the mood today.  I don't need anybody bothering me."

Well...okay, then.

Eye Screening Day

So, today was eye screening day for kindergarten.  It is always difficult when you add/change an element of the daily schedule for 5 year olds.  It is especially hard when as a teacher you sign up for 11:20 as your time and the office calls at 9:25.  That's a way to send a room of kindergarteners into chaos.  So, this was kind of how that went down today...

Me: "Okay everyone, I need to you to freeze and turn your listening ears on.  We haven't had a chance to talk about this yet, but we are all going today to have your eye's screened."

Them: Room erupts into cheers, "Yeah, Ice Cream!"

Me: "No, NOT ice cream, we are going to have our EYES the ones that are in your head (pointing to them) screened, that means they are going to look at them."

Them: "But the lady from the office said ice cream!"

Me: "No, no she said eyes screened.  They are just going to check them."

Them: "Are they going to poke me in the eye?"

Me: "No, it won't hurt, and it isn't scary.  I promise."

So yeah, we finally all got lined up and considering it threw their whole day off, they did pretty well.  I would count this as a good day, and I take those whenever I can get them!

First Day of School

Well...today was the first day of school. My FIRST first day of school in fact (well...as a teacher anyway). Thought I would do a little post to kick of the year. If you have ever wondered what kindergartners ask on the first day...here are some of the questions I heard all day....

"When are we going to play on the playground?"

"When are we going to eat?"

"When are we going to rest?"

"When are we going to play with those blocks over there?"

And again..."When are we going to eat? My mom said we were going to eat."

"When do we go home?"

"What bus to I ride on?"

"When do we go home again? I think I'm ready to go home."

"Are you sure we're going to eat?"

So there ya go...all the priorities of a 4/5/or 6 year old!

At least she used a vocabulary word...

Each week we teach our students three "wow" words, which are higher level vocabulary words. To give you a little background to this story, one of our words this week is scurry. So, on the way back from recess one day I got caught up talking to another teacher, so our substitute walked the students back. I hurried to get back to the classroom, and when I came in, this was the conversation that took place...

Boy: "Mrs. Barnett, how did you get back so fast?"

Me: "I don't know, I guess I walked very fast."

Boy 2: "Were you scurrying?"

Me: "I guess I was."

Girl: (With straight and serious face) "Mrs. Barnett, you can NOT scurry. Your feet are TOO big to scurry!"

I guess she put me in her place!

When I Grow Up...

Last week at the lunch table we were having a discussion with one of the girls in my class about what she wanted to be when she grew up. She was telling us what she wanted to be one day, this is how the conversation went.

Girl: "Well, first, I want to be a teacher."

Me: "That's great. I think that would be fantastic."

Girl: "But I want to be something else too."

Me: "Really, what's that?"

Girl: "A McDonald's worker."

Me: "Oh really?"

Girl: "Yep, I am going to be a teacher during the year, and a McDonald's worker in the summer."

Me: "Well, it sounds like you have it all worked out. Why do you want to be a McDonald's worker?"

Girl: "Well, because I really LOVE holding fries. AND when I'm not working, I can just stay and eat there!"

Maybe I should think about working at McDonald's during the summer???

Self-Evaluation of a Kindergartner

So, last week we were required to have our students do self-assessments of themselves as a mathematician, reader, and writer. I'm not sure exactly what was expected of kindergartners when they completed this assignment, but the results were interesting. When they did the ones about math and reading, most of what they put at least made sense, even if it wasn't a lot of information, however, we we did the final one about being a writer, there were two responses that were particularly humorous. Here they are:

Girl 1:

Ques: In writing, what is something you feel good at? Ans: Writing words

Ques: In writing, what do you still need help with? Ans: How-to stories

Ques: What do you want to get better at? Ans: Planting flowers in my garden.

Girl 2:

Ques: In writing, what is something you feel good at? Ans: writing

Ques: In writing, what do you still need help with? Ans: sounding out words

Ques: What do you want to get better at? Ans: Opening my umbrella

Always interesting to have a peek into the mind of a kindergartner. I'm glad those two girls were able to get those worries off their chest...even if it had nothing to do with writing.

Pollen Season is HERE!

So this is not so much a story, but just something funny that happened today. I will admit that I am thankful for these sunny warm days for our students to be able to go out and enjoy recess. However, I do not like the pollen that has also decided to come and visit. Today, one of my little friends came up and first informed me that she was hot and "that the 'sweaties' were about to bust out of her head." She also complained that her head was itching. I checked it when she pulled up her bangs....what I found was sure enough just enough sweat to have pollen stuck all over her forehead. I checked some other kids out of curiosity. All of them had little lines of pollen stuck to their glistening foreheads. Poor kids! I'm so ready for the pollen to go away!

I think it is...

So, spring break is over. But only about 7 more weeks with my little kindergarten friends. I am sad that they won't be around to make me laugh everyday anymore. On our first day back, I introduced a big book by Joy Cowley called Milwaukee Cows for number word practice. It dawned on my that they probably did not know what Milwaukee meant, so I asked them. Here were their responses....

Student One: "I'm pretty sure that is a dance."

Student Two: "Yep, its the milking cow dance...you know where you look like you are milking a cow."

They were pretty disappointed to find out it was actually a place. And what kinds of dances are these kids learning anyway?

Texas Forever...

Today I was doing a picture walk to preview a book at my reading table with a small group. During this time, I usually ask questions to have students make predictions of what is going to happen in the book. Today's book was called "The Big Box" and is basically about a family sending a box to their grandmother. I was asking questions like:

"Where is the box going? Where is the box now? Who is the box for?"

Most of the students were giving answers that made sense like, the box is at the post office, then the box is on a plane and it is for the grandma. One girl however, said it was for the grandma, but kept saying the box was going to Texas. I asked her:

"Why do you keep saying the box is going to Texas?"

She looked up at me as if I was stupid and said, "BECAUSE, that is where grandmas go to live!"

I thought Florida was the retirement capital of the world, but apparently it's not, it's Texas.

Kindergarten Reasoning

Today we talked about reality and fantasy during our whole group reading time. One of the activities for today was showing pictures on the smart board of things, and students had to decide why the picture was something that could or couldn't happen, or reality or fantasy. I would also ask students why they chose the answer they did to assess their reasoning.

One of the pictures was of animals sitting at a table eating. The student I selected to answer the question selected that it could not happen. When I asked him why, this was his reply:

"Well, because animals don't eat at the table, because if they did, they would poop on the chairs."

Yeah....that's what I was thinking too. Hmm.

Signs of the Times

Today during one of my small groups, I was having students find sight words with a pointer on a pre-printed phonics mat that we use during this time. The word "we" is one of their sight words and I asked them all to find it. All of them did except for one boy who looked at me very puzzled.

I asked, "Can you not find it?"

He said, "No, it's not on here."

I said, "Yes, it is, look at the top row, it's right there (and pointed at the word)."

He said, "That's not how you spell we....you spell it W-I-I."

At which point we had to have a brief lesson on the difference between the game console wii and the word we. Fun times.

The things kids argue about...

So it's been a little while since I posted last, so I will post a couple of quotes from the last few days. Last week, two students were arguing as they walked back to the classroom from the gym (they have to walk outside through a breezeway). When we went to find out what they were arguing about, one little boy said:

"Do you think God is offended when the weather smells like steak?"

Apparently they though the cafeteria cooking lunch smelled like steak (which is definitely wasn't) and the boy thought God was offended by the smell and the girl he was arguing with did not. I mean really, where do these kids think of this stuff?

Life Advice from a Kindergartner

So today during writing I was conferencing with a few students and out of the blue, one of the little girls asks me if the boy at the table is going to be my boyfriend. I laughed and said...

"Well, first of all, I think he's a really cool guy, but I think he's a little too young for me, and second of all, I have a husband, and I don't think he would be very about me having a boyfriend."

She said, "WHAT? You have a husband? (which I had told her at least 5 times before) Then where are your kids?"

I said, "Well I don't have any yet. I just have a husband, but I don't have kids."

She said, "Well, when are you going to start growing babies in your tummy? You need to do that before you get too old you know."

I just laughed and said, "I don't know. I think I will one day." In my head I was thinking, gee thanks kid . I'm already freaking out a little about turning 30 this year. I don't know if I needed that life advice from you!

She did what?

So, being in a Kindergarten classroom, you are sure to run into your share of tattle tales. Our class actually isn't too bad about it, but there are a few. Today during our math workshop, students were working at different stations. I was talking with a group of students at their station when one of our sometime tattle talers ran up to me and said,

"Mrs. Barnett, she took that name in bain!"

My first response, "Wait, what? What happened?"

His reply, "She took that name in BAIN!!!"

Still confused, I asked the girl he was talking about what she had said, and she replied, "I JUST said, Oh my gosh. It's really not a big deal."

He responds, "Nah uh, she said the G-o-d word NOT gosh."

At this point I realize he was trying to tell me she had "taken the Lord's name in vain, NOT some name in bain."

Oh what a joy that was to try to explain to one girl why that might bother other people and give her some other options and choices of what to say instead of that . Oh, everyday I am learning something new!!!

Wait...What happened exactly?

This morning I was a little nervous about the day's events...field trip, substitute teacher for the second day AND my first observation by my university professor all in the same day. So, it was nice to be greeted by one of my friends with a big hug when she arrived this morning. After the hug, she proceeded to look up to me and say:

"Mrs. Barnett, I need a band-aid NOW!"

I said, "Why, what happend?"

She said, "I got bit by something! I was bit by some kind of animal!"

I said, "What? What bit you?"

She said, "I think it was a gerbil."

I said, "Where did you get bit by a gerbil."

Her answer, "On my finger!"

I said, "No, not where did it bite you, but where were you when you when it bit you? And how did it happen?"

She said, "I was at my friend's house waiting on the bus. I wanted to pet it, but I think my hand smelled like meat or cheese or something, and it bit me!"

Sure enough when I checked there was a little bite mark on her finger that I assume came from a gerbil. Now I can officially say that I have treated my first gerbil bite!

It was just one of those days

So today was a little crazy. Nothing earth shattering, just all kinds of little things throughout the day. One of the things that happened did make me laugh a little (on the inside as to not embarrass my kindergarten friend it happened to).

So, we finally got out to recess, which is usually a time I take a little bit of a deep breath, and all the kids do too. Its good for all of us. Well, we had not been out there even 2 minutes and one of my friends came up and yelled...

"Mrs. Barnett! Mrs. Barnett. _____ (name left out to protect my little friend :-)) has something gross all over her!"

So, I walk over, not all that concerned thinking she has a little dirt on her knee or something, and I walk up to find her back, from her neck to the back of her knees COVERED in mud. It seems she had been playing on the ledge that goes around the playground, slipped and busted it in a huge mud puddle. So, we had to take the long way out around the playground (so her friends wouldn't see her) to go back in and get her change of clothes out of her backpack. On our way back, I was asking her what happened and if it had been a good idea to play where she had been playing and she said....

"Well, I learned something. Don't ever play like you're walking the tight rope next to a mudpuddle!"

I think there's probably some wisdom in there somewhere!

Melt My Heart

So, there is a little friend in my class who has stolen my heart this semester. This morning she brought me a sweet little valentine snowglobe. On the way to lunch after talking about hearts and being each other's valentine in class, she looked up to me and said...

"Mrs. Barnett, My heart is in my chest, and my heart is beeping for you."

Melt my heart :-)

What's that you say?

Today, my two quick quotes came from the same kindergarten friend.

First, he was telling us that he was going to see a play tomorrow morning. We asked him which play, and he said "Hansel and Frankenstein!" I'm sure that my friend who is playing Gretel really appreciates that!

Then, I was working with him on a small moments story during writing time. It was about him playing with his sister. One line of the story said, "We play sword fight and we play Star Wars." Then he asked me, "Do you know how you play Star Wars?" I said, "Not really, how do you play?" He said, "Oh, you play with your life savers." I said, "Are you sure is life savers?" He said, "Yup, they light up and you use 'em like a sword." I didn't have the heart to tell him he was actually playing with a light saber not a life saver. Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually.