Potpourri

I've been scribbling little notes to myself all week so that I would remember to share things with you, but I haven't had much time to post this week. So, you're getting a mixed bag here today. (These won't necessarily be in chronological order - just whatever order my very old brain remembers them!)


Yesterday morning, during small group instruction time, I decided to pull my darling TN and another little boy off by themselves to work on their sight words with me. TN has really been working hard on these lately. Who knows, maybe someone at home has finally stepped it up and started helping him. I know Ms. H. has been spending a lot of time with him, too. Anyway, he's finally starting to learn our words, and knows more than the other little boy, Pumpkin, does. I was going back and forth between the two boys, showing them flashcards with the words. If they knew it, I gave them the card. Well, there are 22 words all together, and after the first "round," TN had about 15, Pumpkin had 4. Second round, TN had about 16, Pumpkin had 5. The game kept kinda going like that, and the boys were making me laugh so hard, I almost couldn't catch my breath. I was wishing so hard that I had a video camera running. I actually almost got up and went to get my camera out of my purse, but I was afraid of losing the moment. Pumpkin was really making me laugh. When I would show him a word, he would say, "Think, think, think!" while tapping on his head. It was hysterical!! When I showed him a particularly "hard" word (I think it was where) he kinda guffawed, then with a sweeping hand motion, says, "TN!" like, 'here, you take it, I don't know it!' I was almost on the floor!! I suppose this is probably one of those things that you just had to be there for, since I realize it doesn't sound so funny to an outsider. But, trust me, by the time we went to lunch, my stomach hurt from laughing. The boys were cracking up at me, too, because whenever they read a new word, or read a word quickly, I would jump and/or make a really surprised face, which put them in hysterics. The more they laughed, the more I laughed, and it was just a wonderfully vicious circle of giggles!



Let me give you a little background on how Pumpkin got his nickname. He and another little boy in my class have very similar names. They only differ by one letter (the last one) so needless to say, I ALWAYS call them the wrong name. A-L-W-A-Y-S. I bugs the crap out of me, but they don't seem to care one way or another. However, they know how frustrated I get with myself, and the other day, after saying the wrong name for the 20th time in one morning, I jokingly said to them, "You know what, I'm going to make up new names for you that I can remember!!" My little friend pipes up with, "I know! You can call me Pumpkin! I like when you call me that!" (Pumpkin is just one of my little pet names for my babies, along with Honey Bunny, Angel, Sweet Pea, and many more.) It was the sweetest thing. Even funnier, the other boy later told me I could call him Squash! Bwah hahaha!



Oh, wait, let's go back to my little session with TN and Pumpkin. At one point, both boys were staring blankly at a word, neither one of them able to read it to me. It was about 2 minutes before we needed to start cleaning up for lunch, so I was a bit distracted when TN said something that sounded like "..eee...uk.." Immediately, Pumpkin says, "I don't suck!" which, of course, caught my attention. So I said, "TN, that's not a nice word, or a nice thing to say." He looked at both of us like we were nuts, and says, "I SAID 'we're stuck!'" Well, that was it, I couldn't take anymore. By the time we stopped laughing, it was time to go to lunch!



I jotted down a couple of DIBELS funnies last week. Actually, one was from Pumpkin. I was giving them the test where they have to tell me sounds in a word. After several words, I said to him, "Tell me the sounds in 'smile.'" He looks at me, and just busts out into the biggest smile I've ever seen. I almost spit in his face, I was laughing so hard. This kid is awesome!



That same day, when it was AM's turn to take her test, she gave me this little beauty. I said, "Tell me the sounds in 'kiss.'" and she proceeds to pucker up and blow me a kiss! Oh, so cute!



I've had an email sitting in my inbox for what will be a YEAR tomorrow. It's some funnies from last year's babies, and I kept leaving in my inbox so I could remember to share them. Well, hell, I sent it to myself March 6, 2009!! Here goes...



Overheard during centers - "...then, when you get to be 100, you die!"



When doing a Star Word (sight word) test -- word shown=for, word said="THREE!" (Hey, at least the kid knew it was a number word!) word shown=a, word said="one" (HUH? Well, it IS the first letter....)



OK, there are a couple more, but I'll save them for another day. I wouldn't want to spoil you! ;-)



One more little funny from this week. Tuesday night, as I was lying in bed watching TV, there was a 'tease' for the 10:00 newscast, and the anchorman says, "We may be putting those winter coats away. 40s are headed our way this week. Get the full forecast here at 10." I almost willed myself out of bed to post this immediately, because it was so damn funny! ONLY in Chicago would you hear that, right? And you guys thought I was the only one!! We actually have had a wonderful week. It's supposed to hit 55 by Sunday, so I guarantee there'll be people out in shorts and/or flip-flops. There may even be a few nutballs out trying to get a tan. Oh, no, I am NOT kidding!! Fellow Chicagoans, back me up here!! I haven't worn a coat all week, but I know you all think I'm nuts anyway.



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