11:22 a.m. - 2005-08-05
Must Love Rejects
I'm sorry that most of my good stories lately have been from my school teaching experiences. This is starting to be kind of like that Reader's Digest compilation called something dumb like "Kids' Say the Darndest Things." However...
Yesterday, we talked about a variety of things because I couldn't come up with one big topic that I could glean a 45 minute lesson from for 5 grade levels. We talked about the Monsoon in India (one snippet of the discussion: I asked them "What causes a monsoon?" and the first answer was "Terrorists." We also discussed the latest on the Shuttle and Disney's 50th Anniversary. We also reviewed our lesson on the planets. My goal is to have every kid memorize the planets in order by the time camp is over. The 3-4th grade class almost has it down. The kinder gardeners are still a little stuck. The start at Mercury and next is Pluto and then the moon. No matter how much I tell them, and how many pictures and diagrams I show them, they can't believe it that the moon is not a planet. The 2-3rd graders can't understand it that we are not standing on the very top of the earth. The 6th graders are convinced that every time we launch a shuttle, it is on it's way to the moon. Does everyone reading this know we have not sent a manned mission to the moon since the 70s? At first, I read that we had only been to the moon on a manned mission once. This is actually not true. We have been to the moon 6 times. But not since the 70s. It's too expensive.
SO I have this one kid in my class. We'll call him Marcus. He is pretty smart and very talkative. He has taken to telling elaborate stories that are obviously not true. This is the same kids who said "I used to have a pet bear and then it died." When I questioned him, he said "Oh, not a bear...a dog." Well, lately he has been telling us all about this rocket ship that takes off and lands behind his back yard. He has invited the class over to come and watch it.
Yesterday, somehow a string of "I know somebody with cancer" happened. For some reaosn, they are obsessed with death and cancer and people getting shot. Easily a discussion on how rainbows form can inexplicably turn into:
"My cousin got shot."
"My dad got shot."
"My dad shot somebody and now he's in jail."
I have this one adorable little boy in my kindergarden class. He is tiny and impossibly cute. Whenever he knows an answer, his eyes get real big and excited and instead of just raising his hand like everyone else does or squirming around or yelling "I know, I know!" like the ADHD kids do, he sits still in his seat, but he actually waves his hand at me enthusiastically. I can't help but call on him a lot because he's so freaking cute.
In other kid news Kevin and I went to a 6 years old's and twin 3 year olds birthday party last weekend. (They are all siblings.) Kevin took great care in picking out some appropriate toys that easily won the "best toys of the day" contest. He also, true to form, managed to get nailed in the crotch by the six year old at least once. Last time we went over there, the then-five year old stood on the couch, where Kevin was sitting and proceeded to fart right in his face. For the better part of the afternoon, I sat with the 90-something year old great grandma who couldn't hear a word I said and every time one of the twins would walk by, she would lean over and SHOUT at them, delightedly "THREE YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!!WONDERFUL!!!!"
TOday is the beginning of the weekend and that makes me very happy. I am off to have lunch with Kelly and then Kevin is picking me up for a dinner/movie date night. Except we will be seeing seperate movies. I don't want to see "The Devil's Rejects" and he doesn't want to see "Must Love Dogs." So, we're going with another couple. The girls will see the chick flick (hey, come on, John Cusack is in it, OK?) and the boys will see the atrociously violent zombie movie....though you probably figured that out.
