Back-to-School 'Sweet'ness

Another school year is off and running! I quickly realize how much I miss the daily interactions with my students when precious moments like this one take place.

Today's "morning work" focused on the long 'e' sound. Students were given clues for words containing this sound. For "denim pants," for example, students would answer, "JEANS."

Another of the clues was "containing a lot of sugar." When a student approached me for help, I happened to have a mug of coffee in my hand, and so I said to her, "If I put a whole lot of sugar in this coffee, it would be _____." She considered it for a moment, and then answered, clearly emphasizing the long 'e' sound:

"DEE-licious?"

May Day! May Day! Or on Second Thought... No Comment.

May 1st began with a morning worksheet entitled "Rhyme Time." I introduced it, reading aloud from the directions at the top of the page. I made it only so far, before I was enthusiastically interrupted by a student. It went something like this:

ME: "May Day is a spring festival celebrated on May 1. Often children dance around a maypole, and--"

STUDENT: "OH! MY MOTHER HAS ONE OF THOSE!"

[pause... and... thank goodness(!), the children seem unfazed by this declaration of a mom's choices in home decorating and recreation]

ME: "and hang baskets filled with candy and flowers on doorknobs!"