A tape deck is the only deck you can't suntan on.

It is well known that I will stop a conversation just so I can write something someone said down. NO, these are not thoughtful words of wisdom or things that will change my life but they kind of inspire me and make me think. I have a few roommates and one of them came up to me today while I was putting curlers in my hair in my room. When he saw this was going on he stated " I understand why girls put curlers in their hair I just don't understand why they take them out " . This same roommate went on to then ask me if I had a "boom box" or if any of our roommates had a "boom box" , to which I answered "no". He then looked disappointed and sadly went back down to the first floor. A few minutes later I hear him yell... " what about a ghetto blaster???" to which I answered that i was pretty sure they were the same thing. tHen just as I thought our conversation about 80's technology was completed he yells up "Walkman??? "

A nice quiet recess

One morning last week the kids were inside because it was raining. When i walked in the class kids were running around, it was loud and hectic. There was no peace to be found. Then i noticed that in the center of the room, with eyes shut and a face of supreme calm (looking seemingly oblivious to the rest of the room) was a little boy playing an imaginary flute.

even pleather would be better

We made dream catchers in class last week and some of the kids were pretty annoyed that I only brought yarn for them to make them instead of real leather. I know that might not seem that interesting but having a group of 6 year olds in your face pretty much calling you cheap can surprizingly uncomfortable.

Welcome to your new life.

Two of my students were sen tto the office today and when I got there one was crying.

As I got him ready for the bus I talked to him and said I already heard what had happened and we didn't need to talk about it tomorrow.

Me: "Don't you worry about it. Tomorrow's a brand new day."

Boy:"Yeah! It's like a brand new life!"

For some reason this was so sweet to me. His eyes were red and seconds ago tears were running down his face but the idea that he could start fresh tomorrow instantly encouraged him. Sometimes it really is that simple.

The Media

Its true that the media has put pressure on women to look a certain way...weight is main focus. Being thin and - not being fat preferred. Little do people know that the insect world is not immune to these pressures. Take Heart! One boy in my class in standing up against these pressures.

Child: That caterpillar is FAT!

Child crusader: Don't say that! We just trying to learn about caterpillars!

Do you hear what I hear?

The other day I was reading my students a story when I heard music from somewhere close by.
Turns out, one of them had a blues emergency and was playing the harmonica in our class bathroom.

The Magician

Tattling is a popular pastime in grade school.
We have caterpillars in our classroom and I had a student tattle a rather serious offense the other day. I was told that a boy in the class had somehow got a hold of a caterpillar and was holding him where we usually read our books.

All the clues added up: The boy had been a sort of assistant when i was transferring the last of the caterpillars, he is sneaky sometimes, he LOVEs critters and a group of students were gathered around him looking at something in his hands...

So I marched up to him and asked him straight up if he had a caterpillar. Then came the astonishing moment for when the boy slowwwwwly opened his hands... there i saw it... he had magically turned his caterpillar into .......a pencil lead.

Thorax

We have a problem in my grade one classroom.

ANTS

Kids love them. They love watching them, squishing them, letting them run all over their hands ...the sad thing is they love them more than math, more than writing, more than reading and more than listening to anything I have to say. This morning I had this conversation with one of these Ant lovers.

Little girl: There's ants marching all over our classroom!

Me: I wish they'd march somewhere else.

Little girl: Yeah, like Newfoundland.


Lastly, I named this post Thorax because I wanted some sort of ant related term. Looks like I actually remember something from elementary other than the bat jokes I put on my grade three animal project.

BLT sandcastle

I love Primary.

Yesterday I was supposed to explain to them how sand was made. I asked them first what they thought. My two favorites were 1) an asteroid hit the earth and created sand and, 2) sand is actually crumbled up peices of bread. Both were said in complete seriousness. I learned a lot. Next time i'm at the beach I intend to make a sandwich ....and watch the sky (just in case).

Happy Valentimes day!

Let's just start with I love that kids say ValenTIMES and not ValenTINES.

This week a primary with a long flowing mullet informed me that he was probably going to fall in love with a girl. And then almost instantly he WAS in love with a little girl named Emily. When i asked him about it he looked at me very seriously and said " I am falling into her love". Which I thought for a five year old was very romantic.

Tiny winter thoughts

The other day I asked some primarys to say their name and their favorite thing to do in the winter. A few kids said snow forts, one said snow angels, two said drink hot chocolate but my favorite of all was when a little boy said : "my favorite wintah activity is scoobeedooing!"

Math sickness

My favorite teaching moment this year happened when i was passing out math worksheets to a grade 5 class.

Grade 5 student: "Math! i'm allergic to math!"

Me:" if you were allergic to math you would have a doctor's note to get out of it."

- several minutes pass -

Students: " um, here, i have this for you"

- Student passes me note -

Note: "charles is allergic to math. Signed- the doctor"

Me: " How funny charles, I've never heard of any doctor names "the doctor".

- Charles takes back the note and returns seconds later. The note is now signed "Dr. Einstein"

Me: " Your doctor is doctor Einstein?"

Another kid in the class pipes up: "Dr. Einstein? uh yeah, he's my doctor too!"

Me: "Charles, do your math"

I thought that was the end of it but later when i went to my desk I saw another note.

Note: " Charles is allergic to french as well"