He's still got it.

So I was going to pick up my lunch and lo and behold I see my old class from the past two years in science. I drop in to say "Hello." Then I proceed to talk to the teacher how that class is a bunch of jerks, teasing them as per my custom.

Then Savior says, "And behold," and, geturing at me, "the Grand Jerk."

I gave him a high five for that one.

And the cycle begins anew . . .

The 2010-2011 school year has begun today. I have a new class and a new teaching partner. I've moved back down a grade, to 4th. I loved my kids last year, but 5th is an age group I'd sooner avoid. You may have noticed fewer posts as the year went on . . .I had to spend too much time maintaining order in the chaotic world of pre-pubescent awakening.

So my new class is younger and far more innocent (so far at least). In fact, they seem kind of immature. It's only the first day, of course, so things will improve. It's just quite a leap.

But never fear, even with only part of the class showing up (the New York Department of Education had the brilliant idea of starting school the day before a two-day holiday/four-day weekend), I've already run into some characters. Emily is an adorable go-getter, very bright and very willing to answer questions. She's been the first, so far, to get my jokes. Isaiah is going to be a funny one, I can tell.

And then there's Roland. Very smart, honestly, kind of a nerdy kid. For example, I was doing a read aloud from the book NERDS, about nerdy kids who are secretly special agents. In the prologue you meet the adult spy, a sort of American James Bond, who was recently sidelined do to "the accident." A cane is in his lap. I asked for ideas on what that was about and answers were mostly things like "Maybe he fell down the steps," or "He might have twisted his ankle." That wasn't good enough for good old Roland. His theory?

"Perhaps an enemy constructed some sort of device that crippled his leg."

I like him already.

Poetry

Damaris decided to write a poem about me.

Mr. Rice

Mr. Rice is a evil man

of darkness a never ending

place of death

who can stop

this creature that

lies on this earth who

can stop him from lying

from his dates a opposite monster

of joy, playful and understanding

no one can stop his

mighty horns that

stand on top ofhis head

help from

this chaos

A poem for me

Confessions

So we use a whole-class behavior mod where we have a canister of "gems" and then a clear jar next to it. The class goal is to get 100 gems and they get them for times the entire class does the right thing. They had reached their goal but then lost over 20 due to poor performance yesterday (while I was out of the room doing testing). Today someone counted and there were way too many.

I explained to the class there were two options: someone confesses or all gems are gone and they start over.

Savior confessed, we thanked him, and we moved on. Someone said that was a good idea and Savior said, "You should thank me, I'm the one who sacrificed my freedom!" He later whispered to me, "I hope you know I didn't really do it. In fact, I saw who did." I didn't ask him to snitch.S

That's Weird

So I was in my room on prep, just relaxing. Jesus pops his head in and announces, "Mr. Rice, I have diarrhea." I waited for a question or follow up. After a few seconds he says, "That's weird."

I said, "Uh-huh."

Then he left.

Chow Time

Johanny has been at it again with the lunchtime board drawings. The recent theme has been her devouring me. I hope this cellphone pic does it justice.