whip share: one thing you find interesting

A whip share is an opportunity for each kid go share what's on their mind, either prompted by a topic or left open-ended.

This morning's topic: One thing you find interesting. (Very open-ended)

My favorite response: "I think it's interesting that my cat looks younger than me even though I'm older. And we have the same birthday."

laugher

As I sit in this cafe writing up lesson plans for summer school, I like to distract myself by reminiscing about the year.

One of my students apparently told her dad one day:
"Miss Vi is the longest laugher in the class"

Side note: To this day I'm not sure what it means. When I asked my student, she didn't give me a straight answer because she seemed embarrassed that her dad told me the story. I may never find out!

making history

student: "My dad said I'm a part of history."
me: "Yeah? How's that?"
student: "Because I have two dads and I'm their kid before gay marriage...So I'm part of making history."

One of my students (whose family identifies as LGBT) after the CA Supreme Court lifted the ban on gay marriage just last week.

cinco de mayo

A couple days late, but today en la clase de espanol, we discussed Cinco de Mayo.

Estudiante: "How long did the war last?"
Profesora: "Un dia! One day."
Otro estudiante: "Yeah, Cinco de Mayo lasted one day. The war today lasts a lot longer than that. A war that lasted one day would be quite amazing...quite amazing."

They speak the truth.

they be nice

An "I'm Thankful For" letter that a student gave me this Thanksgiving

abcs of science v. religion

At the end of journal time today, I caught and briefly participated in the following conversation:

K: Do you believe in God?
G: Yeah
K: Really?!
G: Yeah. God created the Earth.
K: God didn't create the Earth. The Big Bang created the Earth.
G: No, God created the Earth.
K: No, the Big Bang created the Earth. Miss Vi, who created the Earth?
[long pause]
me: Well, that's a hard question because there are a lot of people who think differently about it. [avoidance accomplished!]
K: Aww. I wish there was one answer. I wish I knew the answer.
G: Well, there's only one way to find it out...Time travel!
K: Time travel?! What? How would you do time travel?

politicians

My Kindergarten teacher friend came over to me during lunch to tell me about the conversation her students were having.

K Teacher: "My kids are talking about good guys and bad guys...The context being that the good guys are Democrats, the bad guys Republican."

When asked about why Democrats are good guys and Republicans bad guys, a Kindergartener responded:
"I dunno. Democrats just make better choices."

hELLO!

ships and jars

Student: "Miss Vi. Guess what ship is my favorite that I've been on."
Me: "Hmmmm....you got me. what's your favorite ship?"
Student: "Friendship!" [big hug]
(appropriate considering my last blog entry).

And from the same hugger:
Hugger: [Holding out his hand]: "Miss Vi, can you open this jar?"
Me: [I pretend to unscrew the lid of the imaginary jar, making squeaking noises]
Hugger: [Gives me a big hug] "That was a jar full of hugs!"