Funny Kid Stories!

Never throw a note from the Teacher out the bus window!

I didn't find out about this story until later . . . from the Mom at Parent/Teacher Conferences. Earlier this year I sent a note home with one of my students. He threw it out the bus window. A child in another neighborhood picked it up and gave it to his mom. This mom recognized the name, called the Mom from my class, to let her know she found a note that she thought was for her son. Sure enough, it was for her son. How do you think THAT conversation went?

Pocket Knife

Last Friday, our class went on a field to Thanksgiving Point and got to visit all the animals at the farm and make a "living" necklace. It was lots of fun. One student even got "bit" by a horse. (not really - his hand grazed the tooth of the horse - still, not fun for that child) Anyhow, I digress. As we came back to the school on the bus, many of my students informed me that one boy had a pocket knife. I went back to investigate, found out he did indeed have a pocket knife and had shown the blade to the other students. (The blade wasn't very sharp, but it still was a pocket knife) I confiscated the knife and informed him that if he wanted it back, his parents could pick it up in person for him. I informed the parents through email to let them know. I received an email back. The Dad informed me that he DID NOT give him permission to take the knife to school and because of his actions he was not getting the knife back. He let me know I could throw it away. Don't cross Dad.

Bee

On the same field trip, on the bus ride over, several students in the back of the bus were screaming and yelling. I went back to investigate. There was a bee flying around. I definitely wouldn't have liked that. I'm not a fan of buzzing bees in my space. :) One boy decided to take care of it. He reached out his foot and smashed it dead. One less bee to worry about and no more screaming kids, . . . at least not because of a bee.

Focus Bingo

Who knew a behavior chart could be so much fun? I have a student I am working with on his behavior. I have tried many things and have to keep changing my strategies for him. Well, today I had a "brilliant" idea on the spot. Many of my "brilliant" ideas come in this fashion. I think it's a little help from above. I've wanted to work with him on one thing, but there are so many things to work on, so I asked him what he wanted to work on. He wanted to work on focus. I was thrilled!!!! Focus covers everything!!! :) We have a signal for poor focus and another signal for good focus. His goal is to get bingo with good focus and stickers by the end of the day. It doesn't matter how many times he has poor focus, as long as he can get bingo with his stickers. It focuses on the positive, but still reflects his other decisions. We both win!!! Yeah! I'm hoping it will keep working for a long time. He was really excited about it today.

The funniest part was when I asked him what our signal for good focus should be. He thought I should put my finger on my nose and wiggle back and forth. I suppose that would work . . .if I was Samantha from Bewitched. I suggested a thumb's up. Fortunately, he thought that was a great idea!