From the Mouths of Babes

T.F. writes

I was sitting in a second grade class where I was subbing. Next to me was an endearing little boy with big, chocolate eyes. I thought he was really enjoying the story because he kept looking up at me and grinning. Finally I said (stupidly) what are you thinking, honey? He replied: "You have a gigantic nose."

SPELLING

I'll call myself "Ms. Jones." During the first week of school I was trying to get a new student, a six year old girl, to warm up to me. She obviously didn't want to be there and had made up her mind she hated school and all teachers. Before beginning our very first spelling test I asked "Does anyone have any questions?" She raised her hand, looked me square in the eye and said "Yes, how do you spell I HATE MRS. JONES?"

ALL YA NEED IS LOVE

S.B. writes:

In our second grade classroom we have a "compliment club" where students learn to give and accept appropriate compliments. One day last spring, I was being observed by my supervisor during this time slot. A group of girls kept giving compliments to a particular little boy in class. When it was time for the boy's friend to take a turn (a worldy student named John) he rolled his eyes, looked at my supervisor knowingly and said, "You call this a compliment club? I call it THE LOVE CONNECTION!"

Dad's Teeth

S.L writes:

We were discussing oral health and the importance of taking care of your teeth. I told the class that we all lose our baby teeth and that the second set of teeth are are there to stay. One little boy shot his hand up immediately, wildly swinging his arm around, trying to get my attention. I said a silent prayer before calling on this child because you never knew what he was going to say.

Finally, I called on him and he proudly said "No! My Dad got his second teeth out too. His girlfriend punched him in the mouth and knocked them out. Now he has fake ones." I had already noticed how perfect his Dad's pearly whites appeared. Since he was a particularly annoying parent I got some satisfaction from this knowledge, having considered punching him in the teeth myself!

Honesty is the Best Policy

I noticed 7 year old James staring intently at me as I was teaching a lesson in Social Studies. "James do you have a question?" James looked up earnestly and said "Yes, Is it my imagination or are you having a bad hair day?"

Sacred Vowels

S.D. writes:

Quite a few years ago one of our educational assistants was doing "grocery lists," (basically-hearing sounds in words) iwth my kinder kids. The word she asked one little boy to write was "soup." He was having difficulty with the "ou" sound. She asked him if he knew what vowels were. I explained that we didn't call them vowels and he wouldn't know what that meant. He piped up and said "I know what vowels are! I've been to a wedding before!"

Funny Bunnies

A classroomklassics.com reader writes:

I have two pet rabbits in my classroom. Although they are brothers, let's just say they "act like rabbits" ALL THE TIME! They never give it a rest! Last year I started to use the bunnies as incentive for writing. Students would do animal observations, and write down everything the animals did for 15 minutes, being certain to use lots of descriptive words. It didn't take long for the students to notice that Skippy and Stew loved to "play leapfrog" as they decided to call it. I would read pages and pages of detailed descriptions of this never ending leapfrog game. On the last day of school, one of my more worldly second graders came up and whispered that he just wanted me to know that he and another boy in class knew what Skippy and Stew had REALLY been doing all year!

A Proud Moment for Mom

It was time for morning "circle." The class of 7 and 8 year olds sat, bright eyed and eager to "share." "Peter, turn around and sit up straight, please" said Ms. Smith. "Goddammit" replied 8 year old Peter. "Peter", Mrs. Smith said sternly "I DO NOT want to hear language like that! "My Mom says it all the time" said Peter, smiling sheepishly. "Peter", continued Mrs. Smith, "I am going to write a note home to your Mom and tell her what you said in school and that you said you hear it from her all the time! What do you think she'll say about THAT?" Peter paused and thought about it before replying "She'd probably say Goddammit."

Bush in the Lighthouse

It was Presidents Day. For a week, Ms. Boswell's class had been learning about the government, President Bush and the Whitehouse. To complete the unit, she asked the class of 2nd graders to write a letter to President Bush. "It must be great to live on the ocean" began 7 year old Madison. "Madison, what makes you think he lives on the ocean" asked Ms. Boswell. "Silly" replied Madison, "you SAID he lived in a Lighthouse."

Bedroom Eyes

Six year old Trevor came hame from school and said to his Dad "what does bedroom eyes" mean? His Dad inquired why he would ask such a question. Trevor replied "I heard Miss Smith tell Miss Johnson that my Dad had bedroom eyes."