Saturday, January 26, 2008

Excuse Me, Please...

This week has been interesting to say the least. The students have gotten right back into the routines of what needs to be done at school. This past Friday though we had to have a chat about manners - the waiting your turn to talk speech. I talked to them about the important of saying, "Excuse me, please" when someone is speaking to another person and you want to say something. I also shared that even though you might say, "Excuse me, please", you might have to wait a few minutes until you get to talk.
I guess the little manners talk worked because all afternoon I heard... "Excuse me, please" one child would say wanting to talk to a friend. And the other child would respond, "One moment please, I am talking with someone. I'll talk to you in a few minutes."
Hopefully, this new idea will stick for the rest of the school year.

Other funny 1st grade quotes...

"Ms. E, it isn't a math paper anymore, it is an arithmetic paper."

After a while of looking at a student going across the floor with her ear to the carpet, I asked what she was writing for her math journal.
"Ms. E, the question in math asked how we could measure the classroom with our body or a part of our body. I decided to measure with ears. It is 114 ears across."

"The room is 72 knees across. Ms. E, Knees is spelled n with the vowel pair, ee and then a s."

"I hear a lot of noise Ms. E, don't you think it would be wise if we turned the light to red since some people can't handle yellow - work and whisper?"

While the students were trying to decide how the puppet show should be planned and then performed, one student from "the audience" tells the puppeteers..."You figure out what you want to do, until then we will talk amongst ourselves."

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Back Again - but only once in a while

After a long intermission, I am still here, but have been busy with teaching first grade. I have decided that I should document at least once a week all the funny stuff that happens in my classroom. The students are very comical and provide laugh relief at least once every hour. Each one had qualities that make them special. So here's to hoping that I will be a more regular blogger. We shall see...
Happy Saturday and hooray for long weekends.