Camping in Florida, Dinner at Home, and Words We Don't Know

Hello Chilcoterie Readers. It's been a long time since I've blogged, and it is on my bucket list for 2011...so, here goes...

I spent some quality time with great friends a few days back in Cape Coral and was told three distinct and interesting teaching stories that, I find, well worth repeating.

My friend, the teacher, is teaching third graders and asked them to think about going camping. She asked each child to raise their hands and list three things that you need to pack for a successful camping experience. Of course all the children obliged the teacher and started raising their hands which my friend, in turn, wrote (in perfect print I assume) on the board.

The list of items was pretty much as expected:

Tent
Chairs
Sleeping Bags
Charcoal
Grill
Tarps
Fishing Poles
Lantern
Bicycles
Coolers
Food
Bathing Suits

She then called on Billy.

Cigarettes
Beer
Barbed Wire

What? Even if Billy is only a third grader, I can understand him picking up on the parental essentials of packing smokes and drinks, but, barbed wire? "Why do you need barbed wire?"

Without a second of hesitation, Billy replied, "To keep out the alligators!"

Only in Florida.

***
Dinner at Home.

Ok students, let's hear what everyone had for dinner last night so we can explore the differences in family situations and upbringing. I want everyone to think about what they had for dinner last night and share with the class your main course.

Emily's family ordered in pizza.
Sharon's mom cooked pot roast.
Timmy's grandmother took everyone to McDonalds.
Katrina's dad grilled chicken out back.
Donald's parents cleaned out the refrigerator and everyone had to eat leftovers so some had meat loaf, others had ham sandwiches and he had left over fried chicken legs.

And then, there was Chester.

Chester said, "My mom went out back with the gun and shot a possum. She brought it in and fried it for dinner."

A possum? Oh my. What did that taste like?

"It was a little greasy, but it tasted good, like chicken."

Wow. I can't say that I've ever tried possum, nor can I say that I want to.

***
Words We Don't Know.

And, the last teaching story taught the teacher to more closely scrutinize her teaching materials before introducing them to the class. She brought in one week's worth of the local newspaper and handed each child one sheet and told them that today we were going to learn 23 new words, because she wanted each student to find one word they didn't recognize and as they spelled it, she would write it on the board. Then they would look up the definition and learn each word. Sounds like a pretty harmless in-class assignment.

Words like "diagnostic," "customer," "performance," "qualification," were all spelled, written on the board, handily found in Websters and presumambly learned with assistance from the teacher.

"Sherry, what word did you find?"

Sherry starts spelling and the teacher starts writing, M....E.....N....O....P....A....U....S....E. (Quickly erased).

That's one word the teacher decided that third graders need not yet learn. Students 1, Teacher 0.

True stories.