Laugh Lines November/December 2004

Population Control
To tie in with a first grade unit on nutrition, I decided to read Mary Ann Hoberman's wonderful story, The Seven Silly Eaters (Voyager Books, 2000) to the children when they visited our school library. This tale involves a young mother and father who have seven children and each child will only eat one particular item. The weary mother comes up with an idea to bake a cake using all the food items her kids like and, in so doing, her children eat foods from different food groups…and they like them all.

To conclude the reading, I asked the students if there was a lesson to be learned from the book, hoping we could discuss the importance of trying new foods and eating balanced meals. After a moment of contemplation, one little hand went up and when called upon, a little boy very soberly said, "Not to have so many kids!"
Sherry Shaheen
Oregon, OH

Poetry Buffet
My first graders were participating in a Poetry Café and were going to share their acrostic poems with another first grade class. We were running late and I was trying to get everyone together. There was a student in the bathroom so another student opened the door to the hallway and yelled, "Hurry up! We're going to be late for the Poetry Buffet!"
Vanina Rivera
St. Cloud, FL

The Right to Not Be Left Behind
We all feel the pressure of "No Child Left Behind," but I was not aware that my fifth graders paid much attention to it until a social studies test last year. We had just finished studying the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One of the test questions was to name any two rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. I was rather surprised to see that "No Person Can Be Left Behind" is now one of our rights!
Teresa Sopko
Rootstown, OH

That's One Talented Dog
We had a teacher at our school who was sight-impaired and used a guide dog to help her get around. A few times a year, she would come on the morning video announcements to remind the kids that the dog was working and to not pet him when they saw him. One afternoon after announcements, while lined up to re-enter our classroom, a student asked me if the Braille on the classroom number sign was what blind people read. I told the student that it was. The student promptly asked me how did the dog reach up that high to read the Braille for the blind lady. It took everything I had to not burst into laughter.
Leslie Carroll
Peoria, AZ

Spin Another CD
Over the last three years, I've purchased CD's to replace most of the LP's I use daily in my kindergarten classroom. Last December, when I pulled one of my remaining albums out of its jacket for the first time that year, one of my students said, "Wow! Look at the big CD!"
Daryl Vernau Jones
Berlin, PA