Saturday, April 26, 2008

Yay! Pictures!

Apologies for the woeful lack of postings and pictures. Excuses are that my camera died and I still haven't gotten around to buying a new one, so these pics are actually courtesy of my mom's camera, which I borrowed. Also, you'd think that by now I'd have figured out that when school starts at 7:45 in the morning, and school is 1/2 hour away, I should really go to sleep before midnight, because even getting up at 6:00 is pushing it. But no such luck. So I go to bed at 12:00 or 12:30 or 1:00 and I'm chronically sleep-deprived. Also trying desperately to finish a correspondence Spanish class that I should have finished a year ago. I'm hoping if I can do 16 assignments in about a month (ha!) I can count the credit toward a master's program. I'm not optimistic about finishing, but who knows...

April/May mean crazy weeks and crazy weekends. S
ammy's been skipping Hebrew School for Little League and skipping them both for choir practice. But his big choir concert's tomorrow, the kids have a piano recital in a week, Hebrew school is finally(!) almost over and then we're full-on into summer activities. I am finally getting our summer plans in order. And we've got just 7 more weeks of school before my kinders are officially 1st graders. Yikes.

So, without any more rambling, here are some kinda-recent pics (late March, early April). More when my new camera comes...



Emma in a rare picture with flat-ironed hair.


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Emma as a "Doll" after her performance in Guys and Dolls.




Sammy kicking back before Emma's performance


And here's Miss Molly





We call this the "Hey, John McCain! You just won the Virginia primary!" smile

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

What Would Nietzsche Do... at Quiet Rest Time?

Yesterday in my class we were discussing Earth Day and ways to help the planet. We had a spirited discussion about recycling, and why it's important to help save our planet.

Me: We need to take care of the Earth. Because if we mess up this Earth, do we get another one?

My students (all together): Nooooooooo....

One student (seriously): Because God is dead.

And yes, I realize that nihilistic German philosophy isn't technically part of the kindergarten teaching standards.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Cultural Literacy

It occurs to me that Sammy may be the only 9-year-old boy in the world who can recognize Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke from his picture but who does not know that a chicken is a bird.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke


A chicken


Keith Olbermann, eat your heart out.

Sam: What kind of animal is a chicken?

Me: Hmmm. You really don't know? Well, what does it have on its body?

Sam: Uhhh, fur?

Me: You really don't know?

Sam: Yes! I know!

Me: Well, what is it then?

Sam: The question is, what doesn't it have on its body?

Me: Answer the question!

Sam: Uhhh, hair?

Me (to assembled family members): He really doesn't know! He's not a farmer.

Matt: Ok, think about this. "Which came first the chicken or the..."

Sam: Egg!

Matt: And what kind of animal lays eggs, and has feathers, and wings...?

Me: I can't believe Sammy didn't know that a chicken was a bird.

Sam: Mom! I blanked! You were yelling at me like Chris Matthews and I blanked!