bet

i received this email from colton's mom after colton had lost a bet to me:

"we made him take a five dollar bill out of his own money to pay you. you know how much five dollars is to a nine year old. we suspected that you might not take it but we felt it was a good teaching opportunity. we talked about when you make a bet you have to pay up...if you don't want to pay then don't make a bet. colton said that he just knew you would keep it because you were poor. he said this through tears. i had to turn away as i thought it was so funny how dramatic he was being. after i gained my composure i asked him why he thought you were poor. he said, 'because she doesn't even have her own house.'"

test

hope was in my class two years ago and now her sister, kami is my student. on the day of the animal classification test hope came up to me and said, "kami didn't study for her test last night. she wanted to see how smart she is without studying." the parents are very involved in the girls' schoolwork so i was surprised. i asked, "does your mom know this?" "no," hope replied. "kami only told me...while i was in the bathtub."

gotcha

i asked the students which planet was the closest to the sun and called on noah, who was patiently raising his hand. he said, "i have two things to say. first, mercury is the planet closest to the sun and second, gabe is eating his boogers." at that he accusingly pointed at gabe, who was, indeed, eating his boogers.

teacher

the writing prompt was "if i were teacher for a day..." the kids loved the idea of being in charge and most of their responses were predictable: "we'd have 2 hours of recess, we'd eat candy all day, we wouldn't have math" but corbin hit the nail on the head: "if i were teacher for a day i would get a subsutoot and stay home."

countdown

the class was cleaning up the floor while i counted down. the rule is once i reach 0, they should all be in their seats. i was nearing 0 and they were still cleaning so i started counting by fractions, "one...three fourths...one half...one fourth..." allan joined in, but he doesn't quite have the firmest grasp on fractions yet: "one fourth...one third....one tooth...miss a, what comes after one tooth?"

japan

if i could fly i'd fly to japan because my dad went to a mishen there. he tells me lots of jokes from japan exepet usealy i can't understand them because all of them are japenes.

-sierra