The Young, The Bald, and The Religious

Wow. How has it already been a whole month of school?! Time is zipping on by and I feel like I have only known these crazy kids for a couple of days. I LOVE MY JOB. I love getting sweet emails from moms who's child is loving my class. I love having parents walk in and say they love my classroom. I love getting hugs from 20 students as they walk through the door to go home. I love when I ask my kids what they loved about the school day and they said they love how I taught them nouns, place value, or that they just love me. With all the love floating in the air, who couldn't love this job?

Over the past month, I've been writing down the funny things that have happened in my classroom. I've just been waiting for enough time to write my post :) After many people asking me to post some more highlights, I have decided to finally write it. So, here it goes!

Young:
My kids are young. I am young. We are just a young class trying to figure things out. Most of the time, I look like I am a deer in the headlights. But we all just act like we know what we are doing and we are doing alright. I think my favorite question I have been asked this past month is, "You are teaching second grade and you are how old??" or "This isn't like a real job, is it? It is just your student teaching?" I have been asked these questions by parents, PTA members, other students, my students, co-workers, neighbors, etc. etc. So yes. I am 21 years old and I have a full-time job working as a second grade teacher.

That wasn't very funny. So here is the good stuff.

Bald:
I have a Polynesian student who is probably the funniest child you have ever talked to. He has the best sense of humor and I love having conversations with him. One day, he came up to my desk and said, "Miss James, my grandpa is bald. (pausing for effect) But even though he's bald, I still love him." I tried so hard not to laugh at this as he left my desk, but I thought it was so funny. A week or so went by and when we came back to school the next Monday, the teacher across the hall from me had shaved his head. As the kids were coming back from recess, I heard my student telling the teacher about his bald grandpa and how he still loved him even though he didn't have any hair. We had a good laugh about his concern over the teacher who had shaved his head.
I met this student's parents that night at our school carnival and I realized why he was so worried about the lack of hair.... his dad had hair that was WAY longer and WAY thicker than mine. Hopefully my student would still love me if I were bald.

Big Ears:
Some of my favorite funny stories are of things I overheard while being in the midst of seven year olds. From, "It gave me the freaks!!" to "When Micah was my friend... (he isn't dead, he just isn't my friend anymore!)" to "Do you know what villagers do? They don't move their arms!" you never know what is going to come out of a students mouth.

Religious:
Teaching in a community that is prominently LDS is an interesting thing. It has its perks and it definitely gives me my fair share of laughs.

One day, I was at recess duty and we were admiring the awesome weather we were having as well as the leaves changing on the trees. There was a cloud that was covering the sun and light rays (I don't know what they are called) were shining through the cloud. One of the girls that was observing with me exclaimed, "Look! The angel rays are here!" The other one quickly yelled, "It must mean the second coming is here!" I think that being on the playground with my second graders would be an awesome way to experience the second coming.

Another time, when we transitioning from the rug to our desks, one of my students came up to me, looking very determined. "Miss James, do you know why Jesus is dead?" he asked. I was flabbergasted and caught off guard said, "No, why?" "Because he suffered for our sins." and just like that he went and sat down at his desk.  He was on a mission that morning to convert me, but what he doesn't know is that I'm already converted. It made me happy to know that he was learning some awesome stuff in primary class about missionary work.

This week we were learning about poems and we wrote a poem about things we love. We were brainstorming ideas of different things we loved when I called on a student. He said proudly, "I love my God." The class grew silent, but in my head, I agreed with him. I do love my God. And it is hard that we can't incorporate religion into the schools, but I think it is also a great part of this country. This country was founded on the love we had for God and how He blessed our nation. I am grateful that my school recites the Pledge of Allegiance every morning, and that it is in God that we trust. I love the little lessons my students teach me every day.

The Band:
I'm going to start a band with my students. We have had boys making farting noises, pencil tapping, paper ripping, singing, humming, and sneezing throughout this year. Oh, and I had a chubbier student who pulled his shirt up and was playing his tummy like the bongos. Our album is going to be called The Soundtrack to Our School Year. Look for it on shelves starting May of next year.

Breeding Dogs:
My puppy, Molly, is a reoccurring topic in my classroom. They love to see pictures of her and hear stories about her. Today, I was showing them a picture of me reading Molly a book, and one of my students raised her hand. The conversation went something like this, "Miss James, I was telling my mom about Molly. And she said that she would be good friends with our dog. And then we were talking, and we thought it would be fun if Molly and my dog made puppies! Would you want to do that?" "Sorry, we just made it so Molly can't have puppies." "Oh, that's too bad." Another student in my class shoots his hand up, "Miss James, you mean your puppy can't have puppies until she gets married, right?" "Yep, that is exactly right."

Guess Molly is going to be single forever, poor girl.

A Bug:
This morning, I was doing some work at my computer while the kids were coming in. I have way more boys than girls in my class, so I only had boys in my room. I looked down at a paper when I saw the BIGGEST, BLACKEST bug I have ever seen. I scream for a second and got the attention of the six boys in the classroom. They hurried over and saw the bug and began playing with it immediately. "Woah, this is the coolest bug I've ever seen!" "I think it might be a stink bug." "A stink bug on STEROIDS!" "No wonder Miss James was scared of it!" I told the boys that someone needed to kill it immediately who wasn't me, and almost instantly the boys started a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" competition to see who would kill the bug. Eventually the bug was killed and Miss James didn't die from the giant stink bug. I couldn't help laughing at my six heroes that came to save me.