Deep in the Heart of Prefixes and Homophones...

Me: What is the opposite of "increase?"

Student: [long pause] "Non-crease?"

And later...

Me: What are the Great Plains?

Student: The Blue Angels?

Sounds like...

My class was discussing words with multiple meanings. Our illustrious teacher's guide offered a classic: 'hot.' We delicately made our way through its various applications, unscathed but for a few nervous giggles, and continued with several other exemplars--fire, lie, and one representative of the current vernacular: sick. I then asked the students if anyone could think of another example.

A girl raised her hand.

"Yes, Elsa?"

"Squat!"

I'm sure I looked a bit puzzled as I considered her answer, so Elsa began to elaborate. "Like I can 'squat' down, or like a "Squat Team!"

None of Elsa's classmates seemed to find this at all funny, and I managed to conceal my own amusement as I suggested that Elsa had likely meant "SWAT Team."

So close, but yet, so far

Me [addressing the class]: Do any of you know who Richard Simmons is? (Yes, I did have a good reason to be asking this question!)

Most faces are blank, but one boy raises his hand. I call on him.

"Yes, he's the lead singer for KISS."

Figuratively Speaking

My students and I had just concluded a great discussion about idioms. We explored many examples, giggled over what a literal interpretations might look like--"getting someone's goat," "stuck between a rock and a hard place," "being 'in hot water,'" something costing "an arm and a leg," "raining cats and dogs," etc. The students had just settled into their assignment--to draw a picture to illustrate an idiom of their choice--when a boy exclaimed from his seat, "Oh, I thought of another one!"

"Oh, what is it?" I asked.

"Some guy is "light in his shoes!" the boy announced, innocently.

Uh, oh. "Oh! You mean someone is "light on his feet!" I replied, thinking as quickly as I could.

I could tell by the boy's expression that this did not quite fit what he had in mind, but he opted not to pursue it, for which I am grateful. I had no particular desire to touch that one... not even with a ten-foot pole.

Overheard...

An audible voice emerging from what had been a hushed conversation between two boys:

"No, you cannot get scoliosis by falling off a bridge onto a parked car!"

Soaking It All Up

It seems my 4th graders are reaching that age where they become much more attuned to matters of style and fashion. This morning one of my girls gestured to the skirt I was wearing and exclaimed (correctly):

"You've never worn THAT skirt before!"

Surprised at her having noticed this, I looked up at her and smiled, "Wow, Kendra! You noticed that?"

"Yes. I'm very absorbent when it comes to my teachers!"

Sounds Like...

During yesterday's lesson on literary conventions, I had just completed a discussion about simile and personification, and was moving on to 'onomatopoeia.' As soon as I said the word, but before I could get it written on the board, a boy exclaimed,

"Oh! My uncle has one of those!"

Huh? I was thinking... I turned and looked quizzically at him.

"Yeah! Automatic Pea Gun! My uncle's got one of those!"

Postscript:

Predictably, the term "pea gun" was heard by some of the youngsters as "pee gun." Gasps and giggles rippled through as a room full of ten year-olds with ticklish insides considered their various visions of a "pee gun...." After a fashion, I restored the lesson's momentum, and the kids brainstormed dozens of examples of onomatopoeia.