nicknames

Direct quote from student reading journal:

"My nickname wasn't given by my friends, actually my dad gave it to me, but I'm going to tell you what it is anyway. My dad calls me Bowlin Ball Head because my head is so hard it broke one of my grandparents teeth."

I about died laughing, as this is one of the only original nicknames. Most of the kids just wanted to be called "Blabber-mouth" or "Shorty" or "Spiky." For obvious, sixth-grade reasons.

Love these kids.

Where is your heart?

Did you know that sixth graders act like 4 year olds, on fairly regular intervals? I used the Valentine's candy, conversation hearts, for an activity in math the other day. Each kid got 20 hearts and needed to find the percentages, fractions and decimals of each color. At the end of the day I felt fairly confident in the success of the lesson until I learned that one boy decided to stick a heart up his nose! No lie. I later asked him about it, and his only response was that the other kids told him to.

I laugh at (and with) these kids on a daily basis, but typically I forget why by the time I get home. I'd really like to document the crazy adventures of sixth grades, but oh well....