The Things Kids Say...

Mel D. at Oh The Places We'll Go is hosting a linky party where you can share some of the cute things that kids say/do in the classroom. Some of my favorite classroom moments are the ones involving the silly and sweet things that come out of my student's mouths. Here are a few that came to mind when I started thinking back on my teaching career.

1. One of my 3rd graders last year was a part of his (male) cousin's bridal party over the summer. He was sharing his excitement about getting to be a part of the wedding when I asked him what his part was in the event. His response? "I was the mini-broom!" "The mini-broom?" I asked, trying to keep from laughing. "Yeah, the mini-broom! You know, I got to stand beside my cousin while he got married!"

2. One day while on our morning bathroom break, I had a small group of girls who apparently had just recently discovered the usefulness of having thumbs. They were trying to perform tasks such as holding pencils, turning the water fountain, etc. with only a few fingers. They were, of course, giggling over their silliness when one of their friends (who had not been participating in this experimentation) looked over at them and said quite matter-of-factly, "That's why we have opposable thumbs!" Impressed that she knew about opposable thumbs, I asked her where she learned about them. She shrugged her shoulders, looked at me, and said, "I saw it on TV!"

3. I am in my late twenties, and my husband and I have not started our family yet. No matter the grade level I have taught, my lack of children is always a topic of interest for my students. In Pre-K alone, I had the following situations happen:

A) "Mrs. Putman, do you have children?"
     "No, not yet."
     "Why not!? You're supposed to have children!"

B) "Mrs. Putman, do you have any kids?"
     "No, not yet."
     "I think you need a son!" (This one came from a mischievous male student...who, in all honesty, I would have brought home and called my own if I could have gotten away with it!)

C) This time, a little girl came up and gave me a hug around the waist. The next words out of her mouth: "It feels like you've got a baby in there!"

4. One morning during circle time, one of my four-year-olds looked at me and said, "Mrs. Putman, what's up with your hair? It looks freaky!" It's a sad day when your self-esteem is directly related to the comments you receive from a Pre-K student.

5. And perhaps one of my all time favorites...I was teaching Pre-K and it was circle time. One of my little girls was showing off her new hairbow, so I made a comment about how pretty all the little girls in the classroom were, which led to this conversation (I'm pretty much quoting, so the grammar is exactly the way the kids said it):
Me: "All of my little girls in this class are so pretty!"
Girl A: "And the boys be handsome!"
Me: "Yes, the boys are very handsome."
Girl B: "And if boys like boys, they be gay!"

I looked at my assistant with big eyes. She looked back at me with equally big eyes. We both about lost it. And then I decided it was time to move on to our morning songs without addressing that comment!

I just thought of one more story. This one actually belongs to one of my former co-workers, but it's about as funny as the last one I just shared, so I'll go ahead and post it. She was teaching kindergarten and performing some pre-testing with one of her students for the upcoming year. One of the questions addressed the student's ability to demonstrate an understanding of directional words. Keep in mind, we taught in an urban setting. My co-worker was going through the list...above...in front...beside...finally, she asked him to show an example of the word "behind." He immediately puts his hands behind his back and says, "Like when you get arrested!" My co-worker said, "But nobody's getting arrested here today." He said, "No, you need handcuffs for that. My mom has handcuffs beside her bed!" Oh, it gets better though...Mom was sitting right inside the room and heard the. whole. thing.

It's so true...kids say the darndest things!
Any fun stories to share? Post and link up!

Micah