good old southern mothering.

Another homework journal funny as you're wrapping up lesson plans tonight:

I hope all of your kids have their sense about them this week!  Have a great one!  :)

a funny to start your week.

I have to share one of the homework journal entries I read on Friday.  I just saw the picture on my phone and laughed all over again.  {Backstory: I always always always tell my students when I'm going to be absent, leave early, wear a new shirt, etc because it makes transitions for my schedule-following students much easier.  No surprises taking place this year!  Well, except that I took a personal day on Wednesday and didn't tell anyone.  So...make that just 2 always-es.}

Anyway, I came back on Thursday, told my kids the truth {that I had been on a secret mission} and all was well.  Then I saw this in one little girl's homework journal on Friday:

"Miss Young is not here today.  Miss O'Neil is here.  I don't know why she is not here.
She might be sick and she might be getting us a present."

Bah ha!  I love it.  {Did you notice that I only have princesses in my class??}  And of course she was right.  I had sour gummy words ready for everyone who behaved for the sub.  It still makes me laugh to see a child's true perspective and thought process.  Gotta love kinders!!

Have a great week friends.

And maybe someone will bring you a present!  ;)

who knew mammals would make you giggle?

Really quick story since I actually came upstairs to go to bed but snuck into the office!  ;)

We were wrapping up our {extremely long} unit on animals today so I was having the kids tell me all they knew about the various types, writing one most important fact in their science journals and drawing a picture example.  fish?  good.  birds?  good.  mammals?  good.  Until we really got into the nitty gritty.  They knew so many details from their time in our science lab that surely they'd know the most obvious characteristic of mammals...

{I can hear you groaning...oh yes.}

So I very delicately said "And mammals are the only animals that drink milk from their mothers."  A few kids gave their neighbor funny looks so I skipped right past it and started listing examples of mammals.  Then that one kid raised her hand.  You know, the one who may as well just keep it by her side because she talks regardless of arm placement?

"MRS. YOUNG! MY MOMMA, WHEN I WAS LITTLE, MY MOM, I USED TO DRINK HER MILK FROM HER BOOBIES!"

Aaaaaaaaand the whole class was silent.  What do you say to that?  What would YOU say to that?!  I saw her red face and realized that she'd realized what she'd said.  And on to amphibians!  Bless her heart.  Way to make a connection!!  :)

{side note}

I got another email today from the blog nomination guy and while he laughed at my {nomination post}, he totally understood my skepticism AND made it clear that this is for real.  So thanks for reading and sharing your ideas with me!!

oh the phone calls I'm going to get...

Every year I watch "March of the Penguins" because it is so so so good.  To be honest when my dad gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago I was like "grrrrreat....thanks."  But I watch it in my classroom EVERY year and my kids always love it.  I'm constantly going "Shhh!  Listen!  You're gonna miss it!" because they get so excited to see real, actual penguins in their real, actual habitat that they can't just sit there and watch without asking questions.  If you don't have it in your collection, go rent it.  Spread out over a few days it doesn't take up that much time.

Plus I have some things your kids can be doing while it's on.  ;)  I'm working on a new penguin writing/craft project now that I'll have finished by the end of the week but if you just can't wait, you can see my post on penguins from last year {here}.

So we started our penguin unit today and I once again gave my kids a circle map to record information they hear while we're watching the video.  {This time the circle map will be part of the penguin...stay tuned!!}  I wrote "penguins" on the board, started the video and was going about my business making commentary with the film and watching to see who was actually writing down facts.

And then...I saw it.  Oh the phone calls I'm going to get when it hangs in the hall.

The topic we learned about today apparently was:

I literally laughed out loud and couldn't help myself.  "Wow!  You're doing such a great job!" was my only recovery.  Then I took a picture of it and texted it to my mom and sister with the title "In case you need to study up."  Allison, also a teacher, got it immediately.  Mom, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. "I don't get it.  And why do I need to study that?"  Oh, mother...

I was definitely in need of a laugh today and this student {while he still struggles to copy!} was able to give me that gift.

Now to fix it before we complete his project...