Sit like a lady? Like a what?

Yet another group of 1st graders. . .

Yajaira was wearing her uniform dress today and was in her seat not sitting very lady-like with her little dress riding up inappropriately.

"Yajaira, sit in your seat and keep your legs together when you are wearing a dress. You want to sit like a lady."

Giggles from the troops.

"What's a lady?" someone questions.

"Like a girl," says Zoee.

"Like a woman," giggles Yadira.

"Or like this," Zoee says while she demonstrates sitting up straight with one knee crossed over the other.

"Or a gay man," chimes in Angel.

Not sure of what I heard, I asked him, "like what?"

"Like a gay man," he smiled.

Hmmm. . .now, I'm not really sure I heard what I thought I heard, or if it was something else. And I desperately tried to think of alternate responses. . . but I couldn't come up with anything. Dumbfounded, I quickly continued with the lesson. Man, these kids can sure catch me off-guard! Gotta stay on your toes with 1st graders--never know what they're going to say!

1st graders

The first graders, I'm realizing, really are the funniest without even knowing it!

Taking a step back to last year:
a first grader name Giovanni says to me (in a moderately flamboyant Latino accent), "Joo want me to de-sign a dress for joo?"

"Yes, I would love that," I tell him. A few minutes later, he returns with a picture.

"Ees peenk," he says, "ees dark peek. Joo like?"

"Oh yes, it's beautiful!"

"y der are choose, wis high heels."


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This week alone has been a classic week for first grade conversations. There was a particular, yet unusual topic of conversation that carried over two group sessions: Michael Jackson. Yes, THE MJ. . . hot topic amongst the first graders, I guess.

Right after our group started, Angel shared that he went to a party and listened to Michael Jackson music--he may have even mentioned watching some movie (his speech was difficult to understand). Zoee, in turn, announces that, "Michael Jackson died."

To which Angel replied, "I know, his hair" *gestures that his hair caught fire.*

I tried to explain that Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire a long time ago, and that is not how he died. And without missing a beat, Zoee asks, "How did he die?"

Uh oh. Trapped. "He died because his doctor gave him the wrong medicine."

"Oh," they both said with a nod of confirmation. No more questions. I hope they aren't afraid to go to the dr's now!!

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Next group, same kiddos. We went around the table and I asked everyone what they were going to be for Halloween.

Zoee--"I'm going to be a fairy."

Yadira--"Red Power Ranger"

Angel--"I'm going to be Michael Jackson. . .because I like the way he dances." (this kid really cracks me up!)

Feet

Something funny happened today that reminded me of a classic kindergartener line from last year.

Today, I had to wear running shoes to work. I guess I didn't really have to, but I ran this morning before work and couldn't bear the thought of slipping into heels today and my flats just aren't supportive enough. . . so running shoes it was. Anyway, I went to a classroom to pick up one of my kinders for group. The moment he steps out of the door, he says to me, "I like your shoes," and then proceeds to bend down, give my foot a squeeze and say, "and they're not broken." "Are they supposed to be broken?" I asked. He responded unintelligibly and fortunately we were already at the door of the next student. . .

The foot-touching reminded me of something funny from last year. I was testing a kindergartener and out of the blue, he says, "Can I touch your feet?" I was so taken aback and amused at the same time!! "what? no, you cannot touch my feet. Touching someone else's feet at school is not appropriate." I just couldn't figure out why on earth he wanted to touch my feet!!

What is it with kindergarteners and feet!?

Always/Never

I was working with some first graders today and we were talking about the concepts of "always" and "never." They got it pretty quick and we were having some fun and getting a little silly. "Do monkeys ever fly?" "nooooo, never," they would chant. We would go around the table and everyone would offer something, "Name something you would never play with." I got some pretty outlandish responses: "bananas--never play with bananas," "giraffes--never play with giraffes," "knives--never play with knives," "poop--never play with poop." Yup, she went there--poop. So, there you have it folks, never play with poop!

During another group this morning, also while working on "Always/Never," an outspoken little first grade boy decided to abruptly change the topic by looking under the table and announcing, "I like your high heels."

What's in a Name?

All my life, I've gotten some pretty funny mispronunciations of my last name. Before I got married, my last name was pretty tough for a lot of people (especially when the first sound is not a shared phoneme in English/Spanish and many kids don't even master the sound until around age 8). Honestly, it was tough enough for adults who did know me--no matter how many times I corrected them! For one kindergartner last year, in a period of 30 minutes, I went from "Miss Tomes", to "Miss Stones", and finally to "Mrs. Plums" (??), where it stayed the remainder of the year.

Now that I am married and my last name is pretty common, I figured it would be easy enough for the majority of my kiddos (especially since it is an Hispanic last name). Or not. So far this year, I've gotten "Mrs. Mosquito" (??) and "Mrs. Skimono" (really?!)