Guest Posters: The Wild and Precious Things

As part of the computer class, the kids had to learn how to use their school email. The computer teacher had them send me emails. Friday, I came back from my conference to find 20 emails. And they.are.hilarious.

A little back story:
Friday was a c.r.a.z.y day. We had a math test and a reward movie on the agenda. When we have a reward movie, I don't tell them what it is ahead of time, mostly so they won't spend the day whining about it if they don't like it. We were watching it at 11, so I told them that we'd talk about it at 11, but I'd choose the movie while they were in computer. So, most of them took the opportunity to badger me about the movie through email.

Apparently, the computer teacher also taught them about changing fonts, changing font colors, and changing background colors. I hope I can get it to transfer onto the blog.

And I did not change the spelling in any way. Which is kind of obvious.

For your enjoyment:

Dear Mrs. O,

   We are sending you a test email and hopfuly this one will get to you.I have been trying to get my email to work and remember our password and email address All of us will be so happy to see you every day . Somtimes people do not like school but you make it fun. 

Dear Miss O,
what movie did you pick?When are  we taking the math test?
sincerly,s

And this guy? He keeps it simple:

HI

This next one requires some translation:

 you are the best teacher in the world. and the nices teacher ive ever had and will have. hofely it gets threw the sictem. 

The last line says "Hopefully it gets through the system."
We've got some work to do, he and I.

Dear Mrs.O,
I love all the fun things we have been doing.I`m exsited for the moive.What are we watching?I`m exsited to see the new things we will be lrening
love M,

I didn't edit this one. They didn't finish my last name or sign their own. But they attempted the turquoise and tangerine, which gets them bonus points in my book. 

 Hi Ms. Owen,
We are just testing out our e-mail adress and we are hoping that it works. I hope you have a great weekend  and I will be glad to see you on Monday. You are the best teacher ever!!

From your student,

Dear Miss O,
    Are we taking the math test before the movie or after? What movie did you pick?I enjoy e-mail.

                    sincerly,
                          J

This one had fun with fonts and large spacing:

Ms.O,

We are doing a test in the computer lab to see if it is wroking and how am i doing in school.


            love,c

Dear Miss O,
Hi Ms.Owen you are awesome.I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad i got you as a teacher and that i can email u!!!! My favorite subject with you is all but math. Your the best!!!!
love,A

Dear Miss O

This is your student G. We are sending you a practice e-mail to see if our e-mail works. You are the best teacher ever. tou have already taught me so much already.

g

Dear Miss O
What movie are we watching?   Have you chosen it?
M

**We had some issues prior to Computer class:

Dear,Miss O
I'm loving the first 6 weeks well no I'm no because J said"just give my money" and I think that was kind of mean because he just keeped on saying It so now I'm going to not evan say anything because he was trying to pick on me.So I think you should tell him when he says something he should keep his promess.


                                                     love,T

This one always has an angle...

 Dear mrs. O
       hi we finaly got our e mail acount! But I dont want to do the test instead watch the movie when we get back. Is it going to be hard? I hope not! can it wait until Monday please? Well its better than the taks test.

And then this one. He found the font color and size to be exciting:

dear,miss O


hi,
What movie are we waching?


from, L

Dear Miss O,

Hi Miss O I think you are the best teacher in fourth grade. When are we going to have our math test in class? Have a great weekend!!


Your Student,
   R    L 

Ms.O ,

   This is just a test to make sure that the e-mail works and that it goes through I hope the rest of your day is as good as it it now I was also going to tell you that you are the best teacher ever !


             A

Dear Miss O

Hi Miss O when is our social studie and math test.

your student
W

Dear Ms.O,
Hi its L and this is a test so I don't know what to say. But hi and...  Oh ya this a test e-mail so umm BYE!!!
ok I'm done here see ya in the classroom!!!
bye





Your student,
L

I had to work really hard to read the first line of this next one.

Hi mrs o I am exided for dowing are test!I studey last night i am sure that i am gowing to get a 100 on it!AND i think that we are gowing to get a complen from being good!

And there you have it.
The Wild and Precious Things speak.
God bless us all.

September State of the Classroom: Where my girls at?

I think I'm going to have to start having these mini-State of the Union addresses to talk about my class.

Because, my class.
Oh, my class.
My class is not bad this year. I had that group two years ago, and drank lots of wine. This year, my class is just Q.U.I.R.K.Y.

I was going to put the year on the title, because I may want to continue doing these for years to come, but then I realized that I will probably never have a class such as this.

We are 12 boys, 8 girls, and one teacher. I make that distinction, because of my 8 girls, at least three of them are quite certain they could do my job just as well as I do, but probably better. Two of these three are chomping.at.the.bit to get a hold of just a smidge of authority and run it into the ground.

My boys are wonderful. Smart, funny, and a tad bit mischievous. Hard-working, a little boisterous, but completely manageable. They are helpful, sometimes to a fault, but when they mix with the girlies-

God bless us all.

Of my 8 girls, 5 of them have very strong personalities. One wears a cape. Yes, a cape. I keep waiting for her to pull a rabbit out of her desk or a long, multicolored handkerchief out of her locker, but nothing yet. She's on a kick now in which anytime someone says something to her, she turns it around to them and includes the phrase "your face." As in, "Yeah, well at least my cape looks better than your face." It's interesting to say the least.

One other of my girls is into everyone's business, at the expense of her own work. She's quite the tattler, and so I always know what everyone else in the room is doing. At.all.times. She gets the "Go. Sit. Down." more than anyone else in the classroom.

We've changed our rules up as of today. Instead of the nice printed sign with the five fourth grade rules, I've put up a hand-printed sign that says:

1. Mind your OWN business.
2. Raise your hand to speak.
3. Take care of this classroom and the things in it.

The mind-your-own-business thing is going to be our downfall. At one point today, one of my boys (Suds) tried to help another sweet girl straighten up the carpet squares. Go.Sit.Down tried to step in and do it for him, and the two of them got into the most passive/aggressive carpet straightening fight I've ever seen.

Here's the best part: I just let it happen.

There was almost a wrestling match going on, and at one point Suds looked at me and I could see the pain in his eyes that said "I know I'm not supposed to hit girls but I want to punch her in the face." I almost looked the other way so he could get a jab in, but I know his mamma raised him right and that would never happen. Sigh.

So. September State of the Classroom:
1. Several of them want my job, but I'm not giving it up. How sad for them.
2. We've got some new rules and a new plan of action.
3. We may or may not make it to October without self-destructing, but we're damn sure going to try.

The best part of it all is that KC feels the same way as I do, and we spend a good part of our day just laughing at everything that goes down in room 415.

The good.
The bad.
The quirky.

Tomorrow is another installment of Text Message Tuesday, and Wednesday? Oh, friends. Wednesday is picture day. The cape is coming off, but I'm guessing it won't come off without a fight.