daffodils on monday.

here is the face of one of the most thoughtful, sweet, and kind men you shall ever meet.

after another lovely weekend together, i arrived at the elementary school this morning and found flowers waiting for me in the office...

 

gosh, this boy makes me so so happy...

"michael jackson is the king of pop!"

before christmas, i was working on rhyming with my little kiddies at the elementary school. we are now working on "key word booklets". the kids choose a "key word" and that's the only word they have to spell perfectly in their whole journal entry.

last week, some grade ones were chosing their key words when a little girl excitedly threw up her hand, "pop! i want my key word to be pop!"

i told her that was a great choice, and she excitedly said, "i'm chosing 'pop' because michael jackson is the king of pop!" 

she sits down and begins writing. i asked her why she liked MJ and she said, "i'm his biggest fan. i draw pictures of him every day." 

Her comment prompted a group conversation about the king, with kids singing random parts of "billie jean" and "black or white". some kid even started quoting part of "this is it"!

man. i love my job sometimes...

"well, i just thought i could ask you questions and stuff..."

as i was walking to my car after work at the elementary school today, i ended up walking beside this boy in grade two. he was pointing out to me where he lived (end of the street) and then asked where i lived. i explained and he excitedly said that he knew where it was.

he then paused, "miss folkerts, what's your phone number?"

i hesitated, "well, i don't think you really need to know that."

"well, i just thought i could phone you and we could talk and i could ask you questions and stuff," he shrugged. "but if you don't want to, that's okay."

he handles rejection so well at seven years old! kudos kid!

the truth about santa claus.

remember when i said i wasn't going to be around here for a few days?
well. it's 2.30 am and i can't sleep.
so much for resting up for a full day of studying tomorrow....

so inevitably around christmas time,

kids launch into passionate debates about the validity of santa claus.
today i was sitting with a group of grade 3 and 4 students,
trying to settle them down to start reading group.

they were in the middle of such a discussion,
when a girl commented,
"santa clause WAS real.
he died in france."

"what?" i asked, a little surprised.

"yeah, i read it online."

a few kids nodded.
"yeah, my brother told me that too," another kid quipped.

and that seemed to put an end to the discussion.

when a child gives you lemons...make lemonade?

one of my favourite parts about working at the elementary school
is when kids say really really funny things... unintentionally.

one of the things i do at the school is lead rhyming groups with grade ones.
today, i told a group that i was really impressed
with the progress that they had made since september.

one kid nodded in agreement,
"i know. because now i can rhyme anything!
like sell rhymes with..."
he paused.
"lemon!"

he was so gosh darn proud of himself,
i hated correcting him.

apparently i'm really good at teaching rhyming...