September 2010

September 8
We started reading out of our Social Studies books today and while thumbing through the pages, a student saw a photo of the Lincoln Memorial, and was all excited about it. I asked him if he knew who it was and he said, "Yeah! Umm....that guy....that lives in the penny!"

September 9
I was reminding the kids that tomorrow is Picture Day and that they can wear Free Dress. One student said, "I'm going to be clean for my picture tomorrow. I'm going to take a shower in the morning!"

September 10
I was excusing kids to get their backpacks and line up outside today and dismissed the last group by saying, "If you got a perfect score on your spelling test today, you may go get your backpacks and line up," and one girl said, "Awww...Miss Cunningham...you're sweet!" Earlier in the day, I got this one: "I want to be your mom!"

September 13
I asked each individual student to tell me about a time when they were helpful/how they are helpful. One student raised her hand and said, "Well, [I'm helpful at] pretty much everything." Fortunately, this was a true statement! ;)

September 14
I handed out "Cunningham Cash" today for stellar behavior, which consists of a 1-dollar bill that's been tampered with, to include my photo in the middle. A female student said, "I know who goes on the picture part of these bills....the president's wives!"

September 15
"My pencil vanished!"

September 16
I was telling my students that I'm going to the Bay Area to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday this weekend, and one of the girls raised her hand and said, "You could bring us back some cake!" I told her that by the time I got back, it would probably be dried up and gross, and she said, with a wrinkly nose and distraught facial expression, "But I WANT cake!"

I asked a student if he would come up to the board and mark long and short vowels in a few words I had written. He responded with, "Yes, I shall."

September 20
Bob (a scarecrow we made for our garden) was sent home with one of my students today so her dad could build a contraption to hang him on. The other students became jealous that it was going to be a sleepover playdate. She responded to their woes by saying, "He's not going to sleep in my room! He's going to sleep in the garage...on top of my mom's car!"

September 21
While we were doing Reading Groups, a bug dropped onto a boy's book while he was in the middle of reading aloud. He suddenly had a shocked look on his face and said, "Huh?" and pointed to it. I told him to flick it away, but he chose to gently pick it up and say, quite tenderly, "Awww....poor little guy! Come here," and take it outside. Very kind. Very sweet.

September 22
When a student saw a seagull up on top of the cross today, she said, "That seagull must really love Jesus!" and later, another girl came up to me, showed me her snack and said, "My humble pickle!" I asked her why it was humble. She said, "I don't know...because it sits still all day."

September 23
One student was pretending to eat another student's arm and said, "Mmm! You taste like pickles!"

September 24
While heading to the Apple Farm for our field trip, we were driving on a back country highway, and one student mentioned that it would not be fun to live that far from town, and another said, "Yeah, you'd have to pack a snack and 3 bananas!"

September 27
I had tubes full of water for a science experiment, and a student came up to me and we had the following conversation:
Student: "What's in that water?"
Me: "It's just water."
Student: "No, but what's INSIDE the water?"
Me: "Just more water."
...Student: "Maybe we should get a magnifying glass and investigate it."
Me: "Oh, so we can see each hydrogen molecule inside?"
Student: "HUH?"

September 28
"What happened when it was someone's birthday on Noah's Ark?" and "My mom said we needed a lot of fans in our house because it's SOAKING [smoking] hot!"