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March 18, 2005

Another Day At School

Yesterday was my day in the elementary school again. I probably shouldn't have gone because I felt yucky, but I did go. And as usual, I heard some interesting things.

1. I started the day working with kindergartner Bianca. We've been working on number identification up through 20. She always misses 4 and 9 and only recognizes a few over 10. We were playing War with the cards, where each of us turned over a card, she identified each number, and then whoever had the biggest number got both cards. (Hey, I'll do anything to keep the kids motivated to work!) I turned over the number 12. (She called it two-teen, but that's a logical mistake.) She flipped over her card to show the number 9.
Me: OK, Bianca, what numbers?
Bianca: You got two-teen, and I got that number that looks like a penguin.
Me: A penguin? Why do you think it looks like a penguin?
Bianca: It walks like a penguin.
Me: Um, hmm. A penguin. Well. Um, who gets the cards this time? Whose number is bigger?
Bianca: Mine. A penguin is bigger than a two-teen.
I just let that one go. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

My friend Joseph (from a previous entry) was absent from the preschool class. I think the teacher was a little relieved to get away from his constant repetition of words. I spend my time with Elias. The class was painting Easter eggs with watercolor paints. Now, you need to realize that watercolor painting is tricky with preschoolers because they have the natural proclivity to swipe their brush over all the colors at once, resulting in all the little ovals of paint becoming black. With my individualized help, though, Elias's box of paints stayed rather clean. His egg, however, ended up a dingy brown color because he painted in the same spot over and over again until the colors had blended into a mess. When he realized what he had done, he beamed at me and said,"I made a poopoo egg! My egg is poopoo!"

In the second grade class, I took Dewanna to the library to read. Usually, I get the kids who are reading below their peers, but Dewanna is actually reading a grade level above her peers. She never gets to read with me, so it was definitely an exciting moment for her. I helped her choose a book (one that I really liked as well), and we settled down to read. The book had the words "cedar chest" and "cedar chips" in a few places. When she first reached the words "cedar chest," she paused. I could tell she was stumped (a rare occasion for her).
Dewanna: What's that word? (pointing to cedar)
Me: How about you make a guess and then I'll help you?
Dewanna: Cheddar cheese?
Me: Good try, but the words are 'cedar chest.'
Dewanna: Well, what the heck is a cedar chest? He seed her chest? It's supposed to be 'he saw her chest.' And why's he seeing her chest anyway? I'd be wallopin' him if he lookin' at my chest!
Me: No, not that kind of chest. A cedar chest is a box made out of a wood called cedar.
Dewanna: Oh, OK.
She continued reading until she got to the words "cedar chips." The full sentence was "Brandy found a box filled with cedar chips."
Dewanna: What's that word?
Me: We've read it before. Try and then I'll help you.
Dewanna: Cheddar chips.
Me: Could it be cedar chips?
Dewanna: No, you said cedar is wood. You don't eat wood and it don't come in a box. It's cheddar chips.
And she went right along reading. I guess cheddar chips made sense to the story, at least in her mind. *sigh*

Time for first grade. The kids were struggling to solve the math problems involving "how many more" questions. For instance, Joy has 7 crayons. Sam has 4. How many more crayons does Joy have than Sam?
The teacher split the group into two, and she gave me the lower group. (Lucky me!)
Me: This problem talks about kittens. Justice, tell me how many kittens Bradley has.
Justice: 6.
Me: Good, Justice. Destiny, how many kittens does Joshua have?
Destiny: 4.
Me: OK, so who has more kittens?
Class: Bradley.
Me: Great! Bradley has more kittens. So how many more does he have?
Shenequia: Bradley has 17.
Mekaylah: No, he doesn't, Shenequia! Bradley has 64.
Shenequia: Now, don't you be dissin' me, girl! I'll get my daddy after you!
Me: Oh, boy. Let's try this again. We need to take 6 minus 4 to get the answer.
Christian: But why are we minusing? Are we killing the kittens?
Me: No, we're just seeing how many more kittens Bradley has.
Briella: Who cares about kittens anyway? I don't like kittens. I only like puppies.
I gave up on solving that question. I just told them to write down 2 on their paper.

Had I felt better, I might've laughed a little harder at the day's experiences. Hopefully, you were amused at them. Right now, I'm still not because I feel icky.

Posted by Anna at March 18, 2005 02:41 PM

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Comments

Posted by: marsie at March 18, 2005 05:50 PM

Posted by: sunbather at March 19, 2005 03:20 AM

Posted by: mellowyellow at March 20, 2005 05:50 AM