His Bags Were Packed and He Was Ready to Go

Source: google.com via Emily on Pinterest

Oh, the things these Little People say.  Today I heard such interesting things during our Small Group time.  I read a book about Thanksgiving, and we talked about what it means to be thankful for something.  I then asked them what they were thankful for.

Actually, I was surprised at their quick answers.  One said right away they were thankful for their family.  Another said they were thankful for their toys and stuff.  One said they were thankful for their two cousins.  "Oh," I said.  "I thought you just lived with one cousin."  "Well, Dan and Rex," he answered.  Dan is in fifth grade.  Rex is a dog.  He's two." Oh, well, okay then.

But the funniest to me was the little girl who said that she was thankful for her cat.  "I had a fish," she explained solemnly.  She then shook her head in a flabbergasted kind of way.  "But it ran away from home, just like the other one."

Oh, ran away from home, did it?  I had no idea these fish were so clever.

Then again, at least it didn't pop.

F is for Fish

This week was Letter F week.  That means that we talked and talked about the Letter F.  We had Letter F Show and Tell.  We talked about things that start with F.  Our theme this week was Food, so we talked about that, too.  We made Fingerprint Fishes and we Fingerpainted on Foil.  All and all, it was great Fun.

We did have several out this week from sickness.  In fact, my entire class could have been poster children for the health department and symptoms of the common cold, as every one of them was either stuffed up, sniffling, or coughing greatly.  No fevers, though, so that just meant that most everyone came to school and sniffled and coughed - everywhere.

On Thursday we had only sixteen, which gave us more of a chance to talk to everyone and hear their interesting stories.  Like the one from my little Wood Chip Thrower.

Of course the story came as I was talking about the letter F and what starts with F, and one of these was fish.

"I had a fish," he said.  "But it died."

"Oh," I said.  "That happens sometimes."

"Yes," he continued.  "It died - and then it popped."  He paused solemnly.  "My mom said I fed it too much food."

"Yes," I said, trying hard to keep a straight face.  "That happens sometimes."

So there you have it:  Fish die.  And then they pop - sometimes.

Oh, No! Poor Joe.

This is a book about Joe.  It's a book I use during this part of the year to help teach body parts - at least those body parts above the shoulders.  I read the text and the kids fill in the missing body part.  They in general really love it - once they get it.

For example, the first time I read the book this year I started with this page.  I said, "Oh no, poor Joe!  He has no________".  And immediately a voice piped up "moustache!".

Well yes, yes this is true.  He also has no mouth, which I would think would be the greatest of his problems, but I suppose you can never overlook the importance of a moustache.

The Ring Bearer

Well, it was a good week with the Little People.  One of the best contributions to the week was the weather, which after Wednesday (rain all day) was cool and wonderful.  Very fall-ish.

Friday was the school's Fall Carnival, so everything was all decorated around the cafeteria area.  The decorations and the weather were perfect for our theme this week of "Fall".  (The Little People just don't get Fall as well when it's 100 degrees outside).  After our lunch on Friday we walked around looking at the decorated carnival tables, scarecrows, pumpkins and haystacks.  We even took a class picture amongst the pumpkins, which is nice because I don't think we're going to the pumpkin patch this year.

After our Fall Tour we moved onto the playground, where everyone was very excited to run around in the nice weather.  We were using the much-unused back gate, and while I was trying to get the lock open, the kids started pushing against each other impatiently.  Then I heard this:

Sally:  Hey!  Don't push in front of me - I'm the line leader!
Billy:  Well, I'm the Weather Watcher.
Suzie  (from the back of the mob): I'm the Light Helper!
Lizzie:  Well, I'm the ring bearer.

I stopped working with the lock.  "What did you say?"  I asked.  "Did you say you were the ring bearer?"

"Yep."  She answered.

I laughed at this as I finally got the lock undone, commenting to my co-teachers, "She must have been at a wedding recently. But the Ring Bearer?  What about the Flower Girl?"

Then we started wondering if perhaps she had been watching the Lord of the Rings lately and had appointed herself the Ring Bearer, but knowing this particular child (and the fact that she's four), we decided that wasn't very likely.

I've kind of laughed about it in my head since then, but at the same time still found it puzzling.  Finally, this afternoon it came to me suddenly:  She didn't mean the ring bearer.  She meant the Ring Beller.  Because of course she really was the Bell Ringer yesterday.

She wasn't a Tolkien fan or an Equal-Opportunity-Wedding-Assistant after all.  She was a Ring Beller.