I was wearing a peplum shirt one day in August, and a first grader told me she liked "my dress".  I had to look down to make sure I was still wearing pants.
I was.

"Wow, Ms. R.  You're so...authoritative today."

Uhhh...thanks.  I am an authority figure.

SLOW DOWN

2nd grader:  "Ms. R, I have a question."
Me:  "Okay, what?"
2nd grader:  "Why do you talk so fast?"

I think I was born talking too fast.  Sorry, 2nd grader.

A vampire and a werewolf

Me: "What did you think of the high school choir we got to see yesterday, kindergarten?"
Kindergartner: *whispers* One of the girls looked like a vampire."
Me: "What??"
Kindergartner: *louder* "One of the girls looked like a wolf!"

Strutting

As I let a first grade class into my classroom today, one boy ran to his spot on the carpet. I told him to go back to the door and walk to his spot.

I turned away to answer a question from another first grader, and when I looked back I see the boy STRUTTING back to his spot with his hands on his hips.

If he'd had enough hair, he'd have flipped it too. And then he gave me a huge smile because he knew exactly what he was doing.

"You should write a blog!"

I never thought I would do this, but after several different friends told me I should start a blog, I decided I wanted to try it.

I graduated from Drake University this past May, and this is my very first teaching job.  I'm a teacher in an elementary school in eastern Iowa, where I teach music to 400-something kids, from kindergarten to 5th grade.  I see them anywhere between once and three times a week, depending on how the crazily rotating schedule works out.  As far as I can tell, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

But I didn't start this blog to tell you about my life.  I started it to share the numerous stories I've collected during my days of teaching kids.  Just in case you didn't know, kids are HILARIOUS.  They do the weirdest stuff and as the adult in the room, I have to hold back many chuckles during the day.  There are times when I have to stop and take a breath before I start laughing so hard that we don't get ANYTHING done during the class.

I love telling stories about my students, and I've recently discovered that some people like hearing them as much as I enjoy sharing these little tidbits about my life!  My goal is that this blog will be a place for me to share the silly stories about my kids (names and details of them omitted, of course).  I'd also like it to be a place that I can share stories from my teacher friends about their students.  Because at the end of the day, it's the little things that keep us going.  Laughter is what makes my life full of joy, and I'd like to spread that joy around. So...welcome!