Grateful much?
I overheard a friend talking to another friend the other day. I'll call the person "Jack." Jack was talking about a gift he had just received, and then went on to complain about another problem. Why, do you ask, did this affect me? Well, I had anonymously given the gift, so in my heart, I wanted to witness some of the joy of the receiving. Instead, I saw my sacrificial gift passed over with another problem on the horizon. Indeed it was a legitimate problem. I did not blame the person for being negative. Especially since Jack had no way of knowing the gift was from me. I had given it anonymously so that Jack would not praise a person, but praise God. It would also help me to not give for the wrong reason. But of course, as I sat there, feeling sorry for myself because I didn't get "praise," I thought of God. When He gives me His daily blessings, how often do I barely thank Him, if at all, and then go on to worry and complain about something else? My desire for praise is unfounded. God's desire for praise is worthy and right.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! (Revelation 5:12, ESV)
another day in second grade
We were looking at the review questions in our reading group, and a boy answered a question very specifically and in detail concerning a male duck with a green head. I asked the boy how he remembered it all, and he looked at me straight faced and said, "I'm a scientist. I like to study those things."
I few minutes later, we were discussing how cats have different qualities given by God that help them in life. Some ideas mentioned were that they have sharp claws to climb, they can jump and move quick, etc. The SAME boy spoke up and said, "They have whiskers so they can show love and kindness."
I can't take all this humor in one day!
In science class, I don't know how we got to it, but I mentioned how I grew up in Wisconsin, and a student raised his hand and asked me serious faced if I learned to speak English. Totally confused, I asked him to explain. He said, well, since I was from Wisconsin, did I speak English there?
I then did a little map lesson, and pulled down the U.S. map and showed them that ALL 50 states are part of the United States, and that we ALL speak English as our native tongue. Another student then raised her hand and asked, "But, do you speak 'wisconsin' too?"
lol! I honestly wonder if I'll have a book by the end of the school year!
playing house
I have started my 3rd year teaching 2nd grade and am loving it! My class is a cute bunch. They are still into playing pretend and they will do ANYTHING for a sticker. I love whoever invented stickers.
I was doing playground duty last week and heard a very cute exchange that I just had to quick type into my memo list on my Palm Centro. If I don't write it down right away, I'll forget this cute stuff, and I'll kick myself for it. So anyway, here is the dialogue:
Girl: (Standing by school wall - holding up her left arm, and cupping her right hand to the side of her mouth and yells) You forgot your lunch!!
Boy: (Who is walking down the sidewalk away from her, turns when he hears her and rushes back to her side, pretends to grab the lunch, and then starts walking away again.)
Girl: (Yells after him) The car broke down!!!
Boy: (Turns, and yells back) No! I have my truck, remember!!??
(He continues walking away from her, notices me watching him, and says nonchalantly..) Girls are so weird. We're playing house, and I'm the dad.
These kids are so cute. One was reading a story the other day to me where the boy was blowing out his birthday candles on the cake. The boy turned to me, and with all seriousness said, "So does a person's birthday actually happen when they cut the cake?"
Just incase... and "that's what my mom says!"
One of my students came up to me at the end of the day the other day and showed me her paper. (If they have all their work done at the end of the day, they get to draw or read.) I looked at letters that looked like they were written by a kindergardener. I nodded and said, "What's this?" She went on to tell me that her sister once broke her arm and it was the arm she wrote with so she had to write with her other hand, and so she (my student) decided to start practicing writing with her left hand just incase she would ever break her right hand. She was totally serious about it.
My students were giving me a run for my money the other day, and I (like most teachers or parents or anyone who has ever interacted and been in charge of children) was struggling. I finally spoke out, "Lord, give me patience!" Immediately, one child spoke out, "That's what my mom says when she's home on Saturdays with all three of us kids!" I just had to laugh.
Silly Stories
As you noticed from my last post, I'm going to try to resurrect my blog and start journaling my teaching experiences. Last year was my first year with a 2nd grade class, and I loved it. I taught in the midwest in a large Christian school of around 1,400 students. (PreK-12) Looking back, I regret not jotting down some of the cute things that happened that only children can come up with doing.
Here are a few memorable stories from this year's class in Pennsylvania:
We were looking at a map and talking about the distance from Wisconsin (where I grew up) to Pennsylvania. One girl raised her hand and asked if WI was a little "above" PA. I answered, "yes - a little."
One boy immediately spoke out, "You mean they live in the sky??!!"
The whole class erupted into laughter, and the boy put his head down on his desk and shook his head. As soon as he said it, he understood what "above" meant, and I was proud of him that he was able to realize that what he said was funny and not get upset about it.
2nd graders think very literally.
There was another time when I was in a reading group, and we finished a story and read an applicable Bible verse at the end. The verse was: My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother - Proverbs 6:20.
I asked the group what that verse meant. One boy raised his hand and said, "We are to obey our dads but not our moms."
Today at recess, some 1st grader girls were going around collecting "crystals." They offered to sell one to me for $0.25, but I did not have any money on me. Upon further investigation, I realized the "crystals" they were collecting were leftover salt on the driveway pavement. To drive the humor further, I later overheard them trying to sell them to another student for $0.10 each or 2 for $0.25!! I love it! First, they try to rip me off, then they unwittingly "drive a bargain" that is not a bargain to an unsuspecting classmate.
Grandparents' Day
So vote please. My husband thinks it should be Grandparent's Day. What do you think?
He just said that no one will look at this, so if you happen to be reading this, please support my case. :)
So we had Grandparents' Day this past Friday. I had never heard of this until coming out east. We don't have g-day in the midwest. This was a new experience. I was a little nervous of the unexpected because the grandparents were going to be in our rooms for an hour and a half. We decided to play games and have the kids challenge their g's to oral math facts.
The day started off a little rough though. Let me give you a minute-by-minute rundown of the first hour of my day:
7:55 Students enter classroom
8:05 Students write in stenos and check them with me
8:06 Someone discovers throw-up on the carpet behind my desk
8:07 An adult happens to wander into my room, so I ask her to monitor while I check on the poor sick child who ran to the bathroom.
8:10 I sprinkle stuff on the t-u that will soak it up
8:15 I send the students to Computer (Thank God) while Mr. Thaxton, Pastor Hodnett, and I try to figure out how to clean up mess.
8:17 High school students are bringing in chairs to set up the rooms for g-day. We holler at them to stay out of the land-mines and set up yellow signs along the patches
8:20 The ill student is given a school spirt shirt to change into. Thanks office ladies! Mother is called, and her things are gathered for her as she sits in the office to go home. Poor thing.
8:35 Being that there's no janitors on site yet, we make the executive decision to sweep and vacuum up the mess.
8:45 I finish filing my papers for the Friday Folders and Mr. Thaxton sprays Frabreeze in my room.
8:50 I pick up my students from Computer, and we take a Bible Quiz and it's off to the program for the grandparents!
