strange little girl

A few months ago, a new little girl came to our class from another state.

I don't know why, but I still think of her as "the new girl."

It could be because of the fact that she's not quite like any of my other students.

Here are just a couple of instances from today that might prove my point.

Little girl: Mrs. Miller, I want you to know my butt is infected.

Me: What?!

Little Girl: Yeah, I scraped my butt a couple days ago, and now its infected. I have to sit kinda weird now.

Me: I'm sorry to hear about that. I'm sure you'll be as good as new in the next few days.

2 minutes later...

Little Girl: I forgot to tell you something about my infected butt.

Me: (warily) What?

Little Girl: Its causing me to say things in magical voices. Sometimes that happens when you have an infected butt.

A few hours later...

Little girl: I hope it rains later tonight.

Me: You do, huh?

Little girl: Yeah. Because sometimes when it rains, I get superpowers and can see in the dark. But don't worry...its cool, not scary.

She says some of the strangest things! I'm chalking it up to the fact that she's an only child and therefore has to have a very active imagination. But it definitely allows for some laughs throughout the day!

ESP...and the convo that followed it

We had inside recess today...never fails that someone forgets a jacket when its 48 degrees.

The kids started moving the chairs around the room to make a "movie theater." When one location wasn't working out, they started to move the chairs in front of the door instead.

Without really thinking much about it, I said, "Don't put the chairs in front of the door...that's not very safe."

Literally 2 minutes later, the fire alarms went off for a surprise fire drill.

I swear I think I'm psychic sometimes.

After we came back from the drill, I said, "Does anyone know now why it might not be safe to put all of our chairs in front of the door?"

I wasn't planning on having an actual conversation...it was time for math. But sometimes you just need to go with it, and let them talk about stuff for a few minutes. The following are some of the things that were said:

"Because we couldn't get out and then we'd be all burned up."

"You might burn your arm and die."

"If we all got out, but our teacher was still in the room moving chairs, she might get blowed up with the building."

"I hope the school never catches on fire. I'd really miss my backpack."

"We're like a family...we gotta make sure everybody's safe during the fire. Families has to stay together." (Almost made me cry!)

"Mrs. Miller? Would you be so sad if someone got lost during the fire and got really hurt and maybe died?"

And I actually got a little teary telling them how sad I would be if something ever happened to any of them. Its amazing how in 8 months, I've become so attached to these little kids. I can't believe how much I care about them. And thinking about them being hurt in any way makes me sick to my stomach. This conversation only lasted about 10 minutes, but it consisted of some of the sweetest and genuine, (although not always grammatically correct) things. These little "side conversations" are often highlights of my job. Just hearing what they have to say about stuff is so insightful.

some quotes from the week

"You look like a rock star today, Mrs. Miller!"

"One time, a queen bee was in my bed and stingded my foot while I was sleeping. Then a big monster came and kicked it in the face."

"Could you keep it down Mrs. Miller? I'm trying to read the news."

"I wish I had a thorax like an insect."

"I really miss Fred... (her grandma's dog who died about 6 months ago.) Could you teach us a lesson about him?"

"Can we learn about money again today? I got money from the tooth fairy and I gotta learn how to spend it."

"I think instead of going to first grade, I'll stay here with you in kindergarten again next year."

"My tooth hurts when I smack myself in the face."

These are the little things that brighten my day.



letter from a kinder

Translation:

Dear Mrs. Miller,

I will not be mean. I will not bite. I will be nice. I will play fair. I will listen. I will have fun. Thank you for being my teacher.

-Amerelle

For fun over the weekend, she wrote me this letter. I thought it was so cute!

And just to note, she had not violated any of the behaviors she mentioned in the letter. She apparently just thought she needed to reassure me of her good behavior :)

pretty

It was rainy yesterday, so we had to have inside recess.

One of the little girls' favorite activites for inside recess is playing with my hair while I check folders and watch the kids play.

I had two girls messing up doing my hair. One of them said, "Mrs. Miller, we're gonna make your hair REAL fancy. That way you can go on a date with Mr. Miller tonight and he'll say you're pretty."

Isaiah (my quietest, most shy student who rarely ever speaks) happened to be walking by at that moment.

He said in his tiny voice, "But Mrs. Miller's already pretty just like she is!"

I melted into a big old puddle with that one!

a couple quotes from the day

"My granny has so much money! She has a dollar and four pennies and a nickel!"

"Please don't make me flip my card... my dad will make me write sentences again."

"Subtracting is just like adding...only...not really at all."

"Look! I drew a picture of Nicki Minaj and all her crazy hair...she should marry Justin Beiber."

"Mrs. Miller I'm tired...I think I'll just take a nap now and do math tomorrow."

advice from a 5 year old.

Last night, the parent committe from our school held the annual skating party.

I'm not a huge fan of skating, and I knew most of my students wouldn't be there, so I opted to stay home instead.

One of my students who did go, asked a fellow teacher where I was.

This fellow teacher (who now proves to be a rotten friend) said "Mrs. Miller's too scared to skate...all she does is fall down. She's a big old chicken!" 

So this morning, my student came bounding up to me and called me a scaredy-cat for being "too afraid" to roller skate. We joked around about it a few minutes, and then went about our morning routines.

Awhile later, as the kiddos were working, this same little girl came up to me and said,

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Miller."

"For what?" I asked.

"For calling you a scaredy-cat. That wasn't very nice and I wasn't being 'spectful."

I gave her a hug, told her I forgave her, and thanked her for apologizing, smiling inside because none of this was even true.

But she wasn't done.

No way- she had some advice for me...the scaredy-cat.

"Now let me tell you what my Dad told me before the party last night. Sometimes when you skate, you fall down. But you don't need to cry when you fall down. Just stand back up, try again, and use your balance, Mrs. Miller. You'll be just fine. And I can hold your hand if you want."

It was a pretty endearing moment.

Thanks for the advice, sweetie :)