Resolutions from the kids

Last week, our first week back to school from Holiday break, I asked the kids to write some New Year's Resolutions in their writing journals. I explained what a New Year's Resolution was first, and gave a few examples, such as exercising more or not watching so much TV.

Looking through the journals to see what the kids wrote was great. Some resolutions were very specific -- "To clean my room on Wednesday and Friday" -- while some were very generic -- "Learn so much things."

Here are some of the others that stood out to me:

"I need to play my games." -- technically, a resolution, but not exactly a life-changing decision.

"I would like my mom and dad to help me study more." -- Leave it to this kid to be making resolutions for other people.

"I have to stop eating stuff that makes me fat." -- This was a good one, along with the following resolution that made me laugh out loud...

"I not going to eat taco."

"Do the homework of my brother." -- I wrote back to him, "HELP him with his homework, but don't DO it for him!"

"Be good at basketball, baseball, tennis, and foosball." -- I was never very good at foosball.

"I going to watch tv at 3:00 to 3:50." -- Wapner's on. Definitely Wapner. Definitely.

This was from a model student: "I will not run and scream in the classroom." -- This is kind of like me giving up flying into space for Lent.

"Be god at the school." -- I am assuming that this was a misspelling, and not the beginnings of a superiority complex.

And finally, from one of my best students came a list of goals, beginning with "Get a girlfriend," and closing with "Get a dog." All he needed was "Get a pickup," and he'd have the makings for a killer Country-Western song.

I was kind of hoping to see more resolutions along the lines of, "I will pay attention in class," "I will show my work on math problems," or "I will not play in class so much." Oh well, I can only hope that the kids who DID write resolutions like that will actually hold to them. And that the others really WILL be good at foosball.

Not your usual Easter plans

Last Thursday, I gave my kids a Quick Write assignment where the prompt was "What are your plans for this Sunday?" We talked about how Sunday was Easter, so if they had Easter plans, that was what I wanted them to write about, and if they didn't celebrate Easter, then they should just write about what they would do on a normal Sunday.

Some of the results were pretty amusing.

From one kid saying that, as usual, he would top the day by seeing a scary movie, to a girl talking about Easter dinner at the Chinese food restaraunt, one stood head and shoulders above the rest.

One of my really good writers, very articulate, wrote about how he would be going to his cousins' house, and they had asked him to be the bunny rabbit. He hoped that they would not beat him with a stick. Last year, when he was Santa Claus, he got beat up by some 1st graders, and got away just before they started throwing rocks at him.

Not really sure how much of that is fact and how much is fiction, but I found it a very interesting tale nonetheless.

Take my advice (part 2)

Yesterday, I included a couple of writing samples from some of my kids about what advice they would give to second graders who will be in my class next year. Here are a few more choice examples.

This little girl shared a few of the more memorable aspects of being in my class:

I would tell them not to run in the hall or you will get in trouble if you are in Mr. Teacher's class next year you will probably have a behavior folder with codes that say bad stuff that you do and if you do not come to class with all your supplies you will get a code on Fridays if you have one code you will sit out five min. after specials in the afternoon you will do something in March that is called March Mathness that is fun you have to learn your times tables for March Mathness there is this thing that is called score a multiplication touchdown and you have to make a touchdown to get a prize that is so fun I like Mr. Teacher's class it is fun we do something called math around the world that's a fun game too.

[Not much in the way of punctuation there, but I'm glad she enjoyed the games we played.]

This next girl was one of my favorites, and she has some tough love to share with the second graders.

From second grade to third grade is hard. All you have to do is have some harder stuff than in second grade. And you might be shy but you just have to get used to it. Remember that you do not come to school to make friends you come to school to think! You come with a smile on your face! Have fun!

[I love that bit about not coming to school to make friends.]

Finally, we have some advice from one of the more behaviorally-challenged girls in my class. She focused on what she knows best.

When you're going to be in Mr. Teacher's class make sure you don't laugh or talk when you're in a table group cause if you do that he will put you where you will sit by yourself. And if you throw a fit in the classroom he will put you in another classroom. And if you be rude or doing mean things like mocking him he will put you in another classroom and call your parents. And plus you need to not talk when work time because he can hear and see you even when he's not looking.

[Excellent advice; it's truly a shame that she never took this advice herself.]

Take my advice (part 1)

One of the last writing assignments that I gave to my kids this week had the prompt, "What advice would you give to next year's third graders?"

I got some really good responses, and I'm going to space them out a little bit over the next couple of days, rather than writing one REALLY long post.

Here's one titled, "heads up second graders next year: the eight steps in third grade."

Hello this is ------- giving you a heads up because in order to earn your highest grades these are your goals, first you have to always do your homework, second pay attention in class and do your work, third make sure you try your best on any test taks test or any other work you do, fourth you have to work hard and really hard for parties that are worth it, fifth on writing samples please try your best like me, sixth and if you don't get you folder signed expect no Friday fun time, seventh and expect no recess if you didn't do your homework, eighth and if the whole class is doing something fun and you're in the corner don't expect it.

[I certainly can't argue with any of those points.]

Here's another, titled, "My Words."

If you're going to be in Mr. Teacher's class I have some tips. Never get a attitude with him. Always bring a sharp pencil. Be prepared for the TASKS and study because you never know if it's new or old mostly it's going to be new. Make sure you know how to add, subtract, carry, and borrow. Because you never know if he will pick you.

Make sure that you stay behavior perfect. Never disappoint Mr. T.

[Amen to that one, brother.]

More tomorrow! In the meantime, teachers, please continue sending me your plans for the summer!!

Don't space me, bro!

Taking a cue from Reese's peanut butter cups (two great tastes that taste great together), Friday I merged our study of the solar system with some writing practice for next year's fourth-grade writing TAKS. I gave the kids a homework assignment that said write a story about what your life would be like if you live on another planet. (Optional advice: Keep your head out of Uranus, kids!)

As usual, I got a very humorous, interesting cross-section of responses. Here are a few of the best.

I would live in planet Jupiter. Because it is a little bit hot and a lot cold. I would be a monster and I would love it there. My name is billiBob just to let you know.

[Good to know. I wonder if he chose this name because I use it all the time when I make up word problems?]

If I lived on the Venus everybody will be on fire. The police won't be using guns because they are using fire. Fire will be water and it will rain fire. All of us could fly because fire is a gas and there won't be any kind of vehicle.

[Seems to me that Donald Trump would be quite at home there -- you're fired!]

I would like to see Jupiter to see the houses and how many bedrooms. One day one of my friends will be going to Jupiter because his mom wants to see what it's like over there.

[Yeah, I hear the real estate market on Jupiter is out of this world!]

If I lived in Mars I would be boiling and hot. And for my lunch I would eat hot rock.

[That might actually be an improvement over cafeteria food here on earth.]

If I lived in Neptune I would need a lot of jackets, maybe 20 jackets, gloves, hats, very bold sweaters and jackets.

[Very bold sweaters? Like the kind Bill Cosby used to wear?]

If I live another planet I would be sad because food in Mars are not good and I don't have a house, no bed.

[For this exact same reason, people who live in Arbys are sad.]

If I lived on Mars I would be dead because it doesn't have air. I'm supposed to wear a helmet.

[I kind of have to wonder if that second sentence is truly related to the planet homework, or if this kid was just letting me know his mental status.]

[This one is my favorite because of the closing comment]

I would live on Venus. I would bring a bag of T-shirts. Venus is a lot hotter than Earth. I would live a short life, because of the volcanoes. I would die when I reach Venus's atmosphere. I made a really bad choice of going to Venus.

Always an entertaining venture, my kids did not disappoint!

Math -- love it or hate it

I have decided that this week, in an effort to get my kids thinking towards fourth-grade, that I would let them practice their writing skills a bit. I will give them a prompt and about 20 minutes to write on it, and we'll see what they can do.

Today's prompt: What have you liked most and least about math in the 3rd grade?

One of my girls wrote an entire page, only to finish it with the line, "I hate math. I like other things better."

[Hey, at least she's honest]

Another of my children (who clearly needs the extra work on her writing) jotted down this sentence/paragraph:
"I liked adding the leas because it cind of help me but math help me the most and adding just esey to me and it can help kinder gardens and adding is just for little kids and babyies when they get in school and I have fun in math.”

[Let's let the babies add and leave the subtracting to the trained professionals…]

A couple of students had advice/admonitions to offer. One wrote, "There is no such thing as 7:60. You cannot use 60. 60 is a new hour. You cannot say that.”

[Timely advice]

While another wrote, "The least that I like about is dividing because, You should already know your fact family.”

[Yeah, what are you -- some kind of SECOND-grader???]

This one comes to us from the “clearly well-intentioned, but it'll leave you scratching your head” department:

“I like math because it's fun and it's good for your bran and you can get smart and learn to do more fraction math fact you can go to college then get your ageacation than get a job and get money to buy a house for your family and help the poor and you can change the would and help the inacent people a coss the would help the people the server pain and cure people you can be a doctor or baseball player and make money for chairade save people from dieing help people I don't care if they are.”

[Unfortunately, we will never know what he doesn't care about, as he ran out of time. But I just love the fact that you can touch so many people's lives by choosing the paths of medicine or stickball.]

And here’s the one that just made me grin the most:

“I'll liked when I learned multiplying all the way up to the 8. and I liked latest [lattice multiplication] the least. Latest wore me out but Mister Teacher seddle me down have a great day.”

[I'm sure more judges on the TAKS writing test would be willing to give out higher scores if only the kids would wish happiness upon them at the end.]

Hopefully, I'll have more tomorrow! Have a great day…

:)