This Ain't Yer Mamma's Simon Says

So, we're learning about dialogue in fourth grade. And much like the other writing, my kids are not interested. (Which drives this teacher/writer crazy!) So I needed to spice things up.

My kids went through a phase of saying "said Miss O" after everything I said. And by phase, I mean roughly five minutes before it got so annoying I outlawed it. Which leads to today's assignment.

I gave each kid a sentence strip and some macaroni noodles for punctuation. They had to write down one phrase I use and then come up with a different tag than "said." I put them out on the bulletin board for the general public, and now I have them for you:

- “No talking!” yelled Miss O
- “Sit out 5 minutes!” screamed Miss O
- “Be quiet Friends,” demanded Miss O
- “Back in your seats Girls!” called Miss O
- “Don’t shoot baskets” scowled Miss O
- “Uh…NO” shouted Miss O
- “Don’t lean back in your chair!” hissed Miss O
- “Be quiet!” yelled Miss O
- “Don’t touch my stuff!” complained Miss O
- “Do your homework,” yelled Miss O
- “Shoot a basket and 5 minutes” yelled Miss O (They get five minutes off of recess if they shoot a wad of paper at the basket. I had to implement this policy because they are horrible shots and typically tried to do it while I was teaching things like math.)
- “Don’t write on the board!” shouted Miss O
- “F, turn around” croaked Miss O (implicated himself)
- “A...Sit Down!” screamed Miss O (implicated himself)
- “Hello friends!” exclaimed Miss O
- “Don’t lean back in your chair” mumbled Mrs. O (he married me off)
- “Don’t sas me.” Screemed Miss O
- “Walk two laps” yelled Miss O
- “Friend, Stop it!” yelled Miss O

Apparently I yell and scream (or screem) a lot, and occasionally hiss and demand. But I'm thinking that's just because they couldn't use the word "said."

Even funnier, I was going to title this bulletin board "That's What She Said" but felt it might be a smidge inappropriate.