Overheard.

"Miss Kelle, you're the only girl in here! Don't worry! Us boys will protect you from ANY danger that comes through that door!….. Unless it's a tarantula or a brown recluse. I don't do spiders."

"Don't touch my beauty…." (referring to his lincoln log creation)

"So… did Weston have to break into your house and sneak into your room one night while you were sleeping and then put that ring on your finger without waking you up?"
"No! He asked me if I would marry him and I said yes."
"Oh… Because the ring is so sparkly, right?"

"I'm CRYING because my HEAD is TOO ITCHY!"

"I lost a tooth this morning! I hope the tooth fairy brings me a cardboard box instead of money."

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"An ambulance!"
"Like, a person who drives the ambulance?"
"No! The ambulance! I like making this sound with my mouth - weeee woooo weee woooo"

"I found you a wedding dress yesterday when I was looking in a magazine for my piano recital.. It's purple with flowers and butterflies on the top. What size are you?"

"How was your nap?"
"It was infinity congratulations!"

"You can't come to my birthday party because it's going to be in California and you live all the way in America."

"Miss Kelle, who is that?"
"That's Martin Luther King Jr."
"Mmmmm.. chicken nuggets…."
"….What?"
"I love his chicken nuggets!"
"…Whose?"
"Martin Luther Carl's Jr.'s!"

"Wait… So when you marry Weston it's like… He's going to be the author and you're going to be the illustrator?"

"Miss Kelle O! I'm a miner! I'm going to find 100 diamonds in this sandbox and I will share 50 of them with you!"
:: one day later::
me : "How's the mining coming along today? Did you find a diamond for me yet?"
him : "You know what, Miss Kelle… Just buy your own diamond on your phone or something. I'm busy."

This was a school year of insane growth and learning for all of us.

To be honest, at the start of this year I didn't know how I was going to make it all the way through. There were some big challenges and difficult situations that I was quite overwhelmed by at first, but I am coming out of this year a much more confident, experienced teacher, so I'm thankful for every frustrating day and tearful drive home during those first few months. Once we got into the swing of things, I enjoyed this year and this class so much! We made so many memories together that I know I won't forget and I hope they won't either!

 christmas caroling around the school. all of their adorable wedding suggestions. our nature walks. eating "dirt" at the end of our plant life cycle unit. a giant "yellow paper dress" hanging on our window for my birthday. the first time our student with sensory processing disorder bravely flushed the toilet without plugging his ears. celebrating our 100th day of school with an ice cream party. Weston performing their favorite songs for them on a toy piano. making cookies during christmas week. how often they'd request "The Book With No 'Pages'" during story time. when one of my babies had a terrifying seizure in the middle of our classroom. celebrating chinese new year and letting them teach me all about their traditions! 
their cry of "Miss Kelle O!" every time I walked through the door. 

So proud of my soon-to-be kindergarteners!

Overheard

"Miss Kelle, What are those clips for?"
"They're to hang up our crafts!"
"Oh yeah, we have a lot of crap hanging up in my class too."

"Here Miss Kelle! I drew you a picture! It's you, holding a potato!"

"I don't have a crush on her! She's just my best friend! But she's pretty cute. And a lot of times I just really want to hug her."

me : "So, when you finish your paper, it should have 3 Dd's on it."
5-year-old : "Woah, our papers are gonna be 3D?!" (sorry for that letdown, kids.)

"Oooooh, potty-mouth, I'm telling! You said 'Andy!'"

me : "Please stop pretending you have a gun in your hand, that makes me sad!"
5-year-old : "Alriiiiight, I'll stop pretend shooting…… But is it okay if I make an explosive device to destroy my imaginary gun first?"

"For you, this probably seems like just a regular day. But it's really not. It's my birthday."

me : "Can you please apologize for accidentally kicking his face on the playground? If someone kicked you in the face, wouldn't you want them to say sorry?"
5-year-old : "Nah, I'd probably be fine. I have a really hard face."

"My favorite Christmas song is Feliz MommyDad."

"OH MY GOSH, MISS KELLE. LOOK AT THAT CONSTELLATION!"
"There aren't any stars out yet, are there?"
"No.. In the cloud! It's a turtle shape! I can't believe my eyes! That's the most beautiful constellation I've ever SEEN!"

"Man, I really don't feel as smart as I used to. I lost a ton of brain cells watching TV last weekend."

And in closing, here are a few excerpts from the Christmas cards for their parents. 

I asked what they wanted to say to their family for Christmas, then wrote their words, verbatim….

"Dad, Mom, Emily,
Merry Christmas. Happy Junior. Happy New Year. Happy Halloween. I love you.
Love, E."

"Happy Christmas. Christmas Party. Christmas Joy.
Love, S."

"I like rainbow lights. I love you. Surprise Jesus' birthday. I want a lot of gifts. Happy Christmas.
Love, J."

"Dear Mom and Dad,
It's going to be a wonderful Christmas! Jesus is the star of the Christmas and we will all have lots and lots of gifts from Santa. Everybody will get gifts. Even my family.
Love, A."

Overheard.

"Don't talk to me when I'm in my secret lair."

"I like your dress! Please wear it again tomorrow and every day."

"Is that REAL yarn?! Ooooh, I feel excited like a little cat!"

When I walked into the classroom looking exactly the same as the day before...
"Wow.. Miss Kelle O, you look different today. TOTALLY different. But don't worry, I love your new look!"

"She's afraid to go outside cause she'll turn into bacon."

"Rule #1. Don't knock over my block castle. Rule #2. Don't eat cheesecake in my block castle."

"That girl told me I'm her boyfriend."
"What did you say when she told you that?"
"I told her never mind."

"Why is it stinky over here? All I did was fart a little!"

me : "Your outfit is so cute, I love it!"
4-year-old : "Thanks! You can have it when it gets too small for me!"

"Ugh, why did God have to kill all of my dinosaur friends with that stinkin' little asteroid?"

-         -         -         -         -

My intention was not to disappear for so much of September, but… oops!

Without going in to too much detail, these last few weeks have been difficult.
The loss of a loved one, changes at work, my own health - things just felt messy and chaotic for a little while.

Thankfully, things are calming down. My classroom has fallen into a happy, steady routine in the afternoons, which has helped me get to know the children a lot better. They're a funny bunch, aren't they? :) So excited about the rest of our year!

I'm thinking October will be the start of much smoother sailing and happier days.
xo

Overheard.

"If you close your eyes and press them really hard with your fingers,
when you open them up again you can be in a world of magical shapes and colors!"

"What are you drawing?"
"A sad, dead, fish."

"I like that the octopus has all those cup holders on his tentacles."
(aka suction cups, but cup holders sound useful too!)

"We are pretending to be a family. She's the mom, she's the sister, and I'm the grandpa. I'm 178 years old! But I didn't die yet."

"Miss Kelle can you cut this out for me?"
"You know how to cut on your own!"
"Yeah, but I'm allergic to cutting things sometimes."

"I want to be a baby in your tummy."

"My mom is letting me pick a name our new baby. If it's a brother, it's going to be Stuart Minion and if it's a sister it's going to be Karen Buzz Lightyear. My dad wants to name it Charlie Brown but that's silly."

"No, it's too hot for recess! It's like 60 pounds out there!"

"Miss Kelle, I drew you a picture! ::puts the paper behind his back:: Now close your eyes to make it a surprise!"
"Okay.. ::covering my eyes:: Are we going to count to three and then you'll show it to me?"
"No. I'm going to count to 100."
"How about 10?"
"How about 100?"
"I mean, that's just a really lon-"
"OOOONE… TWOOOO… THREEE…"

It's hard to believe that our next school year starts this month! Ah!
Just a few more weeks of summer session!

Overheard.

"Thunder is my favorite kind of cloud."

"Look at my work of art!"

little girl : I got a diary for Christmas!

little boy : Ewww, you got POOP for Christmas!"

(just your average diary/diarrhea confusion)

"Miss Kelle, do you know the Bears Love Stephanies song? You know, from The Jungle Book? 'Look for the… bearrrrr loves Stephanies, the simple bear loves Stephanies…'"

"I'm talking very soft…. like an angel."

teacher : Does anyone know who Abraham Lincoln is?
4-year-old : He's one of the old guys that lives in a big mountain.

"I know the answer, but I'm just going to go ahead and think about it at my house and tell you tomorrow."

teacher : Hey, do you know your mom's name?
4-year-old : Um… I think it's either Honey.. or Babe...

"This picture is for Jill. I have loved her for a billion days! I didn't love her the first day I played with her but then after that I loved her. Her class is on letter U and my class is on letter T, so she can teach me lots of things!"

teacher : Today we're working on our sight word - ON. Turn the light ON, put that ON the table.. Can anyone else find a way to use this word?
4-year-old : LephrechAUN…

-       -       -       -       -

The other day, as soon as I walked in the door, one of my students ran up to me excitedly. "Miss Kelle O! I found a very special paper for you today!" I barely had enough time to put my stuff down before the very special paper (which he had kept in his cubby all day) was forced into my hands.

He waited excitedly, with his hands folded and under his chin, bouncing on his toes slightly while I opened the paper to find that it was an El Pollo Loco receipt. "Do you love it?!" He shouted.

I really do love it, Michael. More than words can say. :)

Overheard.

"My mom said I could change my name to Selena Gomez when I grow up, but don't tell anyone."

"Woahhhh, this celery is so giant! I could feed it to a Brontosaurus!"

"A really REALLY long time ago, when I was only three and a half…" (she's 4)

"For Christmas I use the colors green and red and green and red. For Halloween I use the colors orange and yellow orange and yellow. For Thanksgiving I use the colors brownnnn... and brown and brown and brown."

"I don't believe in wolves."

"Ladies, ladies… let's cheers to this delicious snack." (and then they did, with their little cups of apple juice.)

"Lunchpails are really heavy these days."

"I'm not done eating but there's no more food left."

"My favorite singer is Johnny Cash. He's really cool but he's dead."

"That boy smelled my chips and I didn't like it."

"I keep trying to write my name BRODY but it keeps coming out BROBY! I'm not a Broby!" (b's and d's are tricky!)

"I'm really growing up now."

I have not been doing a very good job of sharing the funny things these pre-schoolers say, but trust me, I'm not taking the daily laughs for granted. It's just hard to keep up with sometimes. 

One of my students this year likes to grab my hand and whisper "I went to the Grand Canyon" into it. Like, directly into it. Like, I can feel the spit on his teeth. And it happens when I least expect it and the first few times I didn't even know what he was saying hahaha. So there's that.

Never a dull moment, I tell ya. Not a one.

Overheard.

"I really love you. Maybe you can come over to my house on Friday to see all my pets."

"I don't like school. I only like Las Vegas."

pre-schooler : "Miss Kelle, are you a teacher and a student at a college?"
me : "Yes!"
pre-schooler : "At Harvard? Or Stanford..?"

"I don't like surfing at Hawaii because the cinnamon water gets up my nose and it really hurts."

"I wanted to draw you a picture of Toby, but I don't know how to draw dogs, so I drew him in a jellyfish costume."

pre-schooler : "Your breath smells!"
me : "Oh no! Really?"
pre-schooler : "Yeah, it smells like minty toothpaste!"

"I can only be a good listener if I have my mustache on. It makes me into a good man."

"I went to Sequoias with my family and we lived in a cabinet for 2 days. If you ever want to go there, you just go straight up a mountain, but make sure you drink bubbly soda first because if you don't, you'll throw up."

It's the first day of school!

Can't wait to meet all of our new, funny kids!

So exciting. :)

Have a great Monday, everyone!

Overheard.

"Sometimes I like to pretend my last name is Bieber. Because I've got the Bieber Fever."

"Miss Kelle, you look like an apple core."

Teacher : You're on a time-out because you were throwing woodchips at those other boys.
4-Year-Old : But I missed!!

"What are you, speakin' Korean?!" (asked by a Korean child)

"We're playing Dinosaurs vs. Whales-That-Can-Turn-Into-The-Hulk."

4-Year-Old-Tattler : "Miss Kelle, he hit me!"
4-Year-Old-Hitter : "Miss Kelle, HE is not doing forgiveness!"

"Sometimes I just want to tell my brother to go outside and cry."

"Probably I will go to Kindergarten at Starbucks because my mom loves it there."

A couple months ago, my dad had a day off of work and decided to bring Toby to the school to visit me and meet some of the kids. They were so excited to finally meet my famous puppy in person and they all took turns petting him and showing him around the classroom.

Toby does this thing, where if you sing in a high pitched voice, or make any high pitched sound, he'll "sing" with you. So I told the kids if we all sang our ABC's in a high squeaky voice that maybe Toby would sing with us. Thankfully, as we all sang, he did, so I wasn't left looking like a total liar in front of all the 4-year-olds. And they loved it.

The next morning when I walked into the classroom, one little girl ran up to me.
"Is Toby going to visit us again, today?"
"No, he has to stay home, but he had a great time meeting you yesterday!"
"Miss Kelle, I have a question...." she paused, "How did you teach him his ABC's?"
I smiled, "You know, we never really had to teach him, he just sings if we sing in a high-pitched voice!"
"Does he know any other songs?"
At this point I just had to hug her. Too much adorableness.
"He knows almost ANY song you can think of!" I told her. ;)

All the pre-schoolers who said these little gems are officially kindergarteners now. So bittersweet!

Last week, I got my employment agreement for the new school year! Especially after how much time I had to miss this last year due to my endometriosis, I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to continue working at a school I love so much.

Can't wait to meet the new little ones in the fall!

overheard.

just a few things i've overheard from the pre-schoolers lately...

"i know that name - barack obama... i think that's my cousin's name."

"is 'shamrock' spanish for 'clover?'"

4-year-old : "miss kelle... someone just said a really bad word."
me : "who was it?"
4-year-old : "it was me! i said crap."

"well, the first president of the united states was probably god."

"i just had a magic pee! that's when you go pee, but it doesn't make a sound. because it's magic."

"miss kelle, you are 22?! how did you grow up so fast?! how did you make your hands so big?!"

4-year-old : "i don't want no juice!"
me : "how would you say that politely?"
4-year-old : "..... i don't want no juice, please?"

"miss kelle, i just found a woodchip from the playground inside my mouth."

-          -          -          -          -

recently, some of the preschoolers have been really interested in marriage.

it started during lunch when one kid accused his friend of saying a bad word.
the word(s) in question turned out to be "i'm going to marry you."

on friday afternoon, one of the little boys was holding a toy pig and saying that it was going to marry the toy mouse
that he held in his other hand.

i told him that animals don't get married - only people!

he came over to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said "i want to marry you. will you marry me?"
i laughed quietly, gave him a hug and said "no thank you, but i will be your teacher!"
when i let go of him he gave me the saddest look i've ever seen and replied, "but i'm a people!"

previously...

overheard.

just a few things i've overheard from the pre-schoolers so far....

"my brother can't come to school today because his forehead is a really big number."

"if i be a red dragon ninja when i grow up do i have to go to college?"

        teacher : "are you paying attention?"

       4-year-old : "no."

         (all i could think of was this scene)

"our new house is so big that we have a shower that has TWO places water comes out so if two people need

to take a shower they can do it together! i'm serious! my mom and dad tried it!"

"is opa gangnam style a bad word?"

          teacher : "today we are sharing things that start with the letter 'n'! what did you bring?"

         4-year-old ::holds up buff, shirtless, action figure::

          teacher : "does this man's name start with the letter 'n'...?"

         4-year-old : "NO, I BROUGHT HIM FOR HIS NIPPLES."

overheard.

"i used to have a disneyland pass but then it died."

"i probably shouldn't jump off the swings because i might hit my silly bone and i'm going to lego land tomorrow so i can't really afford to be hurt."

"have you ever been to new yorg? it's like new york, but more closer to michigan."

            "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

            "um... probably a person."

"i don't know if you know this, but i'm kind of the artist in my family."

-      -      -      -      -

so much fun with this group of teachers and kids.
i will miss them all dearly.

overheard...

"after i get famous on 'the ellen show', if you need any money just let me know and i could probably send you a check for $1.80."

(during our first game of '20 questions') : 

                    "okay, first question. is it a person?"

                    "no, it's egypt!"

"phew, i am getting so sweaty from all of this vitamin d my body is absorbing!"

"the big kids said i could be in their cowboy skit for the talent show! they're letting me be a cactus!"

(from a 1st grader named kelly) : 

                    "oh my gosh, miss kelle.. whenever i talk to you i feel like i'm talking to myself."

"i didn't feel the earthquake last night. i was too busy sleeping and thinking about how much i love tacos."