Laugh Lines January 2004

The Sixth Sense
The end of September is when the first graders learn about the five senses. I was accessing prior knowledge from the students by having them name the different senses. As a class, we could only come up with four – they were missing "touch." After a few seconds of thinking time, a little girl proudly raised her hand and said, "Miss Thorsell, don't worry. I know the sense that we are missing…the sense of humor." After a good laugh, I said, "You're right, we all need a sense of humor."
Alanna Thorsell
Newbury, OH

It's a...?
A student came to school very excited. "My mommy is having a baby!" she announced. "Is she having a a boy baby or a girl baby?" someone asked. "I don't know," she answered. "We have to see what it's wearing."
Feige Seidenberg
New York, NY

The Long and Short of It
In my kindergarten class of English Language Learners, we had been working on learning about the upper case and lower case letters. In math, we had been working on sorting. One day, we sorted the boys by their hair – the very, very short and the not so short. I asked the students to tell me the sorting rule. One little cherub couldn't wait to answer. She called out, "This group has lower case hair!"
Linda Webb
San Diego, CA

The Ways of the World
During Social Studies class, my third grade students and I entered into a discussion on how globes and maps are different in their representations of the earth. After comparing and contrasting the two, we examined several different types of world maps. I asked the students if they knew what the main directions were. One student raised her hand and when called on replied, "Be quiet."
Mag K. Scarey
Windham, NY

Mind Your Own Business
In my first year of teaching, I gave my eighth grade English class an assignment to write autobiographies. I carefully explained what is meant by an autobiography and that in writing one, it would also help me to get to know the students better and consequently be a better teacher.

At the conclusion of my verbal discourse, a boy raised his hand and asked respectfully, "Teacher, aren't you being a little bit nosey?"
Sherrie Murphree
Odessa, TX

January, 2004, Vol.34, No.4