today's top 5

It is safe to say that there is never a dull moment when teaching kindergarteners. I thought I'd share a few quick stories about my younguns, and so here are the top five recently:

5. My kids have a ton of energy, and that's fine... most kids do. However, they really get no time to run, jump, and simply blow off steam. They are frequently bouncing off the walls. To remedy this problem, I have regularly been taking them downstairs to the school gym and having them run laps. I remember hating this when I was in sports, but these kids LOVE IT! Just call me coach. ;)

4. Whenever you have 16 five year olds in a room together, there will undoubtedly be some... tension. You just can't put that many little kids together and expect them to get along. They deal with their frustrations in a number of ways: first they whine, then they tattle, then they resort to assault, and finally... if none of that works, they pull out the big guns:"(insert name) YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND!" Ahhh...the adorable little sinners.

3. I was chatting with three of my little students one morning and one of them, being the "ego-boosting", admiring student that she is, says, "My daddy's muscles are bigger than yours, Teacher Ben!" Her friend, not to be outdone, states, "My daddy's muscles are as big as a mountain!" The final student, a little boy, then pipes up with, "My daddy knows how to make coffee." Definitely the winner.

2. Today I walked past the bathroom and heard one of my little boys yelling for my co-teacher. I poked my head in and asked what he needed. "I need teacher Jessica to wipe my bum bum." I replied with a bit of amusement, "Why can't you wipe your own bum bum?" He paused for a second before stating the obvious, "I can't see my own bum bum." There you have it, folks. You can't argue with that.

1. And to top the list, today we had our weekly cooking class. Last week, my co-teacher approached me about what we should make in class, especially since it was a special day. You see, my school decided that we need a promotional video to show to parents of prospective students. As a result, a dude with a camera took footage of the many classes during the day. One of the classes he filmed of us was cooking. We could choose a dish that had already been made in class, such as fruit salad, sandwiches, fried floor drink (don't ask), or french toast. Feeling inspired, I wanted to push the envelope and go where no class had gone before. And so... I settled on party mix. Since they couldn't find pretzels (a rarity here), we were provided with peanuts, raisins, and M&M's. I remembered how so often (at least with the chex-mix kind of party mix) you put it in the oven and let it get warm and toasty. Ovens are quite rare here, so I figured that it would be okay to modify and use a hot plate instead. We poured all the peanuts, raisins, and M&M's into a big pot. Before long, it began to smoke and smelled burnt. Needless to say, the peanuts were well done. It wasn't exactly the kids' favorite. I cannot understand why with the kind of stuff they get fed for snacks. To boost my ego just a bit more, the other Chinese teachers kept poking in their heads, wrinkling their noses, and asking what was burnt. They did not really care for my party mix. Even the school cook, who really should appreciate foreign cuisine, seemed skeptical. All I can say about this is that, next time, we will be doing fruit salad.