SOLC: A Fuddy-Duddy

My parents are still getting use to a cell phone. We gave them a prepaid one for Christmas a year ago.

“Oh, I really don’t need one,” Mom said.

“It’s just in case or if you are out shopping and have a question,” I replied.

Our oldest showed her how to use it and put the needed numbers in.

“I hope I can remember how to do this,” she said, shaking her head. I just smiled. Change. Technology. Two things my parents do not adjust well to. She’s the best seamstress and quilter I know. Her homemade cooking is the best. Dad knows how to fix things and manage his time. But the computer and cell phone – that’s another story.

“I need Wes to look at our cell phone. It is working anymore. The battery dies all the time, even when I am dialing the number,” my mom stated panicky.

Wes listened carefully as Grandma and Grandpa shared their dilemma. Looking at the phone, he noted the battery was fully charged.

“Yeah. But you just watch. It will die on you!” At that moment the screen went black. My mom pointed, her pitch peeked slightly, “See! I told you. It just died.” My dad nodded his head in totally agreement. “Happens all the time,” he added. “This is frustrating.”

Wes smiled. Elizabeth cupped her hand over her mouth. I stifled a full-face grin.

“Ah, Grandma, you’re phone isn’t dead. The screen just goes black to save the battery. See. You just press a button and it’s back on.”

My parents just stared at the screen, shaking their heads. “Technology! It’s so frustrating!”

Looking up, Wesley’s smile was composed, but my laughter couldn’t be contained. Mom looked at me, thanked Wesley for his help, and then laughed. “You must think I’m an old fuddy-duddy.”

(We don’t but this story is precious. As I was typing, Elizabeth asked why I was chuckling. “I’m writing about when grandma thought the phone was dead.” She laughed. “Yeah, I tell my friends about that and the can’t believe it. I just say, ‘True story.’”)

SOLC: A Kinder Connection :)

I just love working with my primary kids. They say the cutest things, enticing me grab a scrap of paper for recording.

Today, one lone adorable girl was reading with me. The title of the book was Fun Pets. We were doing the usual introduction and picture walk. Spotting the soft, yellow kitten, Darling “Awwwed” a sweet, cuddly sigh.

“Do you have a pet kitten?” I inquired, hoping to connect with the text.

“We can’t have a cat. Our neighbor will hold her cat up to the window for me to see,” Darling state with a forlorn look.  “I like cats, but we just cant’ have one.”

Thinking there was a significant reason besides a parental dislike for the cat, I inquired,”Oh. Are you allergic to them?”

Darling shook her head, “No, but my dad and I are allergic to poison ivy” to which she proceeded to nod profusely. “Yeah, that poison ivy is awful bad. It itches all on my arms.”

I tried to react with concern and understanding, but inside I was cracking up. How do little kids connect one idea to another? Thank goodness for a post-it note, as I quickly scribbled this idea down. I love capturing these moments of innocence, sincerity, and some hilarity mixed in.

SOLC: Nope. I’m Not a Robot!

I am not a robot! Nope. Hardly. I have laughter, cadence, variation in my voice. I think with reasoning, emotion, and heart. I empathize, reflect, and play.

Nope. I am NOT a robot!

I know I am not a robot, because a robot doesn’t have to push her glasses up to see the numbers or characters.

Nope. “I’m not a ROBOT” I want to say as my middle-aged eyes are adjusting, refocusing to pass permission to comment.

I’m not a robot, because a robot doesn’t have to move closer to the computer screen and decipher the melded letters.

Nope a robot wouldn’t care whether it’s comments brought pleasure to the author, whether encouragement was more important than eye strain.

Nope. I’m definitely not a robot, so to prove my aliveness, I will continue to squint and strain to verify my comments to appreciate your slicing efforts.

 

(This post idea happened last night when I pulled my glasses up, drew in close to the computer screen, when commenting. I verbally said, “Nope. I am definitely not a robot!”)

SOLC: The Funny Things Kids Say – LOL!

Treasures of the day – hearing a kid say something funny. Here are two from today:

During interactive writing group, Lil, a first grader, was writing the sentence we had just practiced. She looked up in the middle of writing a word and said, “Do you know one of Michael Jackson’s moves is?”

What I wanted to say was, “Where did that idea come from? We are writing about Spring. Does Michael Jackson have some correlation with the season?” Instead I replied with an inquiring look, “What?”

“He dances,” did a little shoulder move with a smile,  and on she went to writing the rest of her word. Really? He dances.

*              *              *             *            *              *

At the end of the day, waiting in the car pick-up line, Parker, another first grader, announced, “Hey, Mrs. Gensch, you are invited to my birthday party.”

“I am?” I replied.

“Yep. Guess how old I am?” smiling with anticipation.

“17,” my serious reply came.

“Nope. I’m 8! And I definitely know one thing?” Parker continued.

“What’s that?” my curiosity was ready for something about his party or a gift he got.

“I definitely have to start wearing deodorant.” His serious look and slight nod caused my coworker to turn around, holding back a smile. Me – I laughed, aloud, echoing down the hall. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings; I just couldn’t hold the chuckle in.

“I’m serious, Mrs. Gensch. I stink and I have to wear deodorant,” Parker smiled.

I hugged him. “Parker, good to know.”

At least he didn’t say he had to shave.

 

 

 

 

SOLC: Duh, Mrs. G

I work with a fourth grader, Jay, who is on the Autism Spectrum. He is high functioning in some ways and socially challenged in other ways. He reminds me of Dustan Hoffman in Rainman. Each day is an interesting experience.

Yesterday, I began our Monday morning conversation with the expected question, “So what did you do over the weekend?”

Jay answered, “Nothing much.” Silence followed and so I prodded some more, practicing conversation with him, trying to create a more open ended response.

“What did you do? What do you mean by ‘nothing much’?” I said hopefully.

Jay stopped, turned to face me, and totally serious said, “It means…I didn’t do anything.” Abruptly, he turned and kept walking as if to say, “Duh, Mrs. G.”

SOLSC: The Substitute Report

On Wednesday, I had left my Title I groups in the hands of a capable young lady, my guest teacher. All my plans were explained in detail, including some helpful student-personality information.

The next morning, I read the letter on how the activities unfolded. The beginning was the basic “I finished everything you left me” and then proceeded to share a little about the students, like this particular first grader: “Josiah was very eager to read the book and talk about it. I gave him a sticker. “ Whew – glad that one went well.

My eyes, like a typerwriter  computer, scrolled through the page and landed on this final nugget about two kindergarteners. Language and vocabulary is my main focus with these two English Language Learners (one speaks Spanish only and the little girl – well, her first language is English, but her sentence structure is like a 3-year-old). The note said,

“Lindsey was worried that I would be mean because she didn’t know me. (I could see this little one just shying away; she’s very dramatic.) I talked to her and by the end of our time, Linsey was very rambunctious. She even had Jose giggling, (which is so not like him.)”

I chuckled. Who would have thought I needed to let the kindergartener know she was not a stranger, just a guest teacher?

My substitute ended with this wonderful note:

“Thank you for the opportunity to look over your students.”

 

SOLSC: Kindergarten Snippets

Kindergarten – just the word makes me cock my head a little and smile.  Most of the time, they are cute, fun, and so energetic. There are moments though that my kindergarten teachers could be bald. You know what I mean?

My favorite part about kindergarteners is their matter-of-fact expressions. Here are two that I heard today.

One bright five-year-old, who has great phonetic spelling, said today, “I know how to spell my friend, Jacob’s, name.”

His teacher smiled and said, “How?”

“Jakup. Jake – up.” 

*******

Another little boy, Tyler, can be very particular. When his mind is made up, he is right. (Do you have any of those kind of kids?)

During small group reading instruction, the teacher was introducing the word LIKES.

“See, Tyler. You already know this word, like,” she said covering up the letter S with her finger. “The letter S is added to make another word, LIKES.”

The little boy looked at the word, crossed his arms, and made a face. “What are they doing putting an S on the word LIKE? It’s LIKE, not that other word.”

His teacher nodded and replied,”Yes, it is LIKE, but in some sentences, like the ones were are reading today, it’s appropriate to read the word LIKES to make the sentence make sense.”

Tyler eyed her and said, “Nope. Not going to do it. You need to just kick that S off my word LIKE.” He proceeded to read the entire book leaving off the S. His teacher tried several times to interject the word LIKES, but Tyler was not going to believe it.

I wonder what Tyler is going to do when he reads the word LIKING.

SOLSC: Teenage Humor

Yesterday, I spent the majority of my day with teenagers at a youth function. My job: van driver (and encourager, listener, connector).  I was trying to sneak in little bits of time to write and read throughout the day on my iPad. To another mom, I was explaining how writing on a laptop has one advantage over the iPad: you can cut and paste with the laptop.

One of the quieter, never-seems-to-notice-me teens looked up and said, “Mrs. G, you just need to right tap the screen.”

Burrowing my brows, I thought for a moment. I actually acted the right clicking in my head, when my brain realized I was a sucker .

“Ha, ha. Nathan, I finally got it,” I replied as I rolled my eyes. He just smiled and went back to his iPod.

 

Have I got a book for You!

Have I got a Book for You! – Really, I do. The voice of Mr. Al Foxword is superb. In all of his flattering-salesman pitch, Al works his magic. He begins by showing his customers are satisfied. He is the #1 seller of products that satisfy. Melanie Watt has created another attention-grabbing, fun-loving book.

I love how he engages me, the reader, into wanting his book called “Have I got a Book for You!” (Yes, it is the exact replica of the book you are reading.) The book mimics the commercial ads on everyday TV. This book would make a great mentor text for persuasive writing.

Delightfully, some fourth grade students narrate the book in the following YouTube video. It gives you a glimpse into the writerly voice Melanie Watt uses.

Savorings for reading and in writing for Have I Got a Book for You!:

• Persuasive
• Second person narrative
• Voice
• Speech bubbles
• Interjections

Dirty Joe the Pirate

Bill Harley creates a fun story in poetic rhyme (AABB) in Dirty Joe the Pirate: a True Story.  I love John Davis’s  illustrations; it seemed like I was reading a cartoon. Fun. Dirty Joe and his crew plunder ships seeking a special smelly treasure – dirty socks! The socks flew in the stern and bow as trophies of their dirty deeds.

One day, the crew happened upon another pirate ship. This pirate created fear the crew had never felt before, for this ship searched for another rare treasure – underwear! The illustration of the high-flying underroos cracked me up.

“It’s Stinky Annie,” someone said, “and her band of smelly varmits.”

When the two ships begin to raid one another, the men realized the girls were fighting barefoot. They are shocked and outwitted, stunned to weakness. As the two captains face each other, a familiar resemblance reveals a surprise – they are siblings! The ending will make you chuckle and surprise your students.

YouTube features Bill Harley performing the Ballad of Dirty Joe .  Enjoy!

Savorings for reading and in writing for Dirty Joe the Pirate: A True Story:

• Alliteration – fluttered, flapped, flags
• Word choice
• Surprise ending
• Conversation – humorous
• Boy read that any girl will enjoy

Warsaw Community Public Library (2008)