Leap Day

Ever tried to explain leap year to third graders?

I showed them a Mystery Science video about it on Monday that did a pretty good job of explaining.  I had a few students say, "I still don't get it."

I will try again today.

But if they don't get it?  Not the end of the world.  In four years maybe their teacher can try again.

One year I was in London on leap day and the next leap day I was in Palm Desert and I decided I should go somewhere wonderful every leap day.  

Today I'm going to school.  

It is no London or Palm Desert (Palm Desert in February is my love language), but it is pretty wonderful.

Yesterday we went to library.  

Before going, a student asked me to write Bible on a piece of paper.  He said, "I want to see if they have it in the library."

I wrote it down.  He couldn't find it.  I asked the librarian if she had the Bible in her library.  She said no but directed me to books on religion (the 200s in the Dewey Decimal system).

He picked a book on world religions.

He came up to me after a few minutes, "What's this word, Teacher?"

"Israelite."

"What's that?"

I asked him if he'd ever heard of Joseph and his coat of many colors.  He hadn't.

I gave him a very brief description.  Jacob had 12 sons.  His name was changed to Israel, so then all his family, all those sons and their families, were called Israelites.

He said, "Wow," and went back to reading.

I had SO MUCH else I wanted to tell him, but I could not.  Hopefully he will keep on his religious search until he finds truth.

After I finished talking to him, a girl came up to me, "Teacher!  I have a would you rather question for you!"

She had a mischievous look on her face and read from her book:  would you rather ride the world's fastest roller coaster or one with lots of loops.

I said, "Neither!" and she laughed because they all know I'm afraid of roller coasters.  She said I had to pick one so I picked the fast one.  She looked so satisfied with herself and her ability to know her teacher that it delighted me.

While I sat in the library, I graded informational essays they had recently written.  They were supposed to write about a hobby or sport they love.  A boy wrote about digging a hole.  It was perfect with a topic sentence, facts and transitions and a concluding sentence.  About digging a hole.

“Secondly, holes can be very useful.  You could turn it into a place to store water balloons.”

After lunch, I read aloud to them and it is my favorite part of the day.  I am reading Beezus and Ramona and I'm going to keep reading Ramona books until I run out of time for the school year.

I love those books.  Part of the reason I love them so much is because my students love them so much.

My boy who had a come apart the previous day and who daily tells me how much he hates math, me, the school, our class, everything, said, "This book is awesome!"

It is.  Beverly Cleary is magic.