New Year, New Stories

Welcome to a new year of students, and a new crop of stories!

The other day I was telling my students about the trip I made to the fair this summer. One of the best things I did at the fair was go through the petting farm, which, of course, is made for little tots. As I relayed the story to my students, I told them I was 29...

The next day, I was passing out some papers. As I passed one girl, she said, "Mrs. Teacher, are you really 29?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Then you are the same age as Mrs. Carsen! She's 29, too..."

(Obviously, I'm not the only teacher who lies about her age...Mrs. Carson is actually a couple years younger than me!)

Another students said, "But I think Mrs. Carsen had a birthday, so she's 30 now."

"Oh," I said. "She's older than me then." The two girls nodded in agreement.

Days later, I was busy in front of the class. I was actually making peanut butter and jam sandwiches, following directions written by student pairs as I try to get them thinking about writing a clear, precise procedure. It's a fun activity.

Anyway, I had been following the student directions, ending up with all kinds of funny looking PB&Js. One boy was sitting up close to me. He finally said to me, "Mrs. Teacher, did they have peanut butter sandwiches when you were a kid?"

"Yes, they did," I answered seriously.

Another boy asked, "How about turkey?"

I couldn't be serious anymore..."How old do you think I am?" I laughed.

"Well," kids replied. "You said you were 29..."

I love the gullibility of 5th graders.