Halloween Week Hilarity

1. Several of my students came to school today with crazy hair for Red ribbon week. Among my favorites was one of my girl students who came in with completely dyed-blue bangs, bright orange hair on her head, and a fully green ponytail. She told me she wanted to make her hair my favorite colors (green and orange) but that the bangs needed something extra.

2. One of my students had a loose tooth today, and if you know me, you know I do NOT do blood/loose teeth. It is among one of my many cardinal rules...others being "Miss Leiss never wants to hear about the line" and "Miss Leiss never wants to hear a tattle." The third rule is "Miss Leiss never wants to see you sitting there with a bloody kleenex wiggling your tooth unless it is dangling by a thread and about to come out." (A long cardinal rule, I know, but my kids know it.) However, this student REFUSED to let me or the nurse pull it out. It was seriously dangling there and he would cry but wouldn't do anything about it.

At recess a student from another class ran up to me.

"Miss Leiss, your student is playing on the slide."
"Well, yes, that's what a slide is for honey."
"No, Miss Leiss, he is throwing his tooth up the slide and letting it slide back down."

I seriously laughed out loud, snorting around students, at the mere fact that my student was throwing his tooth up the slide...hahahaha, seriously, this is my life. My name is Miss Leiss and I teach 1st grade and deal with situations like teeth sliding down the slides at recess.

3. On our phonics test, instead of spelling the word "chug", one little friend wrote the word "thug." He complained when I told him it was incorrect.

4. Assessing my students' knowledge of wants and needs in social studies, today we had to cut pictures out of newspapers and magazines and post 3 on one side of a piece of manila paper for needs, and 3 for wants. One male student cut out a picture of a woman in silk pajamas and boxer underwear and pasted it onto his "wants" side, telling me "Well, Miss Leiss, I really don't need those things...so...I guess this picture goes on the want side."

5. When explaining to my students about name calling and how we don't call each other names, one of my boisterous boy students raised his hand and had a story to share.
"Miss Leiss, I know exactly what you're talking about with name calling."
"You do?"
"Yes. The other day on the bus, there were these 5th graders calling me Samantha. And that is NOT my name."
"Oh. Well...that's not exactly what I'm talking about. But I'm glad you made a connection."

6. "I love you so much, Miss Leiss." Greatest words I could ever hear, and one of my small African-American students today told me this with the biggest hug around my knees I have ever felt. So. Awesome.

7. We watched James and the Giant Peach today...which, come on, movies in class are killer. We just finished reading the chapter book as a class and it is so cool to see my students discussing the differences between the book and the movie. So cool!

All glory to God in the highest, He is so good, He is mighty to save.