moneky man

Out on the playground the other day, D climbed the jungle gym. “Wow, you’re really fast”, I told him. “You’re like a little monkey”. “That’s cause I’m half monkey” he told me. “This half of me is monkey” (he draws a line vertically down his body) “and the other half is human. I wear a costume on this side. That way people don’t know I’m a monkey and I can go to school”

Innocence

One of my students sat on the park bench with me during recess, playing with my scarf. "Are you gay?" she asked, but with a note of confidence in her voice, as if she knew the answer. I was a bit confused where that question had come from and she repeated it. She repeated it once more, but the last time as a statement, instead of a question, and then, in all her 8 year old wisdom, she told me how she knew: "you like men."

Yet another reason to get married. . .

Today during our phonics word building, I had my kids make the word "wife" with their magnet letters. I explained what wife and husband meant. One of the kids asked if I had a husband. I told them no. Sunshine said, "you should get one and then he could come to school and be your helper". Sure, why not? Sounds like a good reason to me.

Dynamisms

We're in the midst of state mandated ESL testing at work, not usually the most entertaining few weeks of the year. Dynamo's done a pretty good job at entertaining me though, despite the tedium of reading "when you get to the stop sign, remember, put your hand on the stop sign, put your pencil down, and look at me. You may begin" ad nauseam. He raised his hand half way through the test and when I called on him he said, "You are talking like a computer." He was right. There's something about reading test administration manuals aloud that makes you sound like a recording. Try it sometime.

The listening test narrates a sequence of events and then asks the children to choose the pictures that are in the same order. Yesterday Dynamo finished his writing assignment early, so I told him to draw a picture of his story on the back. When I came back to his seat, I saw a picture of children throwing snowballs with an arrow pointing to children building a snow fort. Underneath it were the same 2 pictures, but in reverse. Each had a bubble to fill in next to it. He had a second set too, of kids watching tv and drinking hot cocoa. "Look" He said. "You have to pick which one it is". I turned over his paper, read his story, and filled in the bubble next to the right order for each of his questions. Too cute.

The real reason our parents feed us. . .

Today Thing 2 said something that really made me laugh. Made the whole class laugh. We were talking about needs and wants and the kids had already brainstormed that we need food, shelter and clothes. I was giving them clues to guess the next need. "What does your Mom do for you?" "She cooks for me", said Thing 2. "Why?" " Because she wants me to be strong and healthy" "Why?" Because she doesn't want me to die." "True, but why?" And then, Thing 2s best answer, "Because she wants me to help her work!" Ok, I was looking more for love and care being a necessity, not forced labor, but you know, whatever. (Don't worry, Thing 2's parents really do love him.)