Room 303 UpdateI

I should be grading papers, but I'd rather blog about my class.

I like to think of them as the "my pet died" class. They sure are cute, and I'm really blessed to have such a good group of kids, but somehow our conversations always turn into this morbid tell-all of their pet that died. A usual conversation goes like this:

Me: What was the name of your first pet?
Kid: Gruffy, but he died.
Kid 2: I had a hamster but it died.
Kid 3: I had a fish, but it got flushed down the toilet.

or:

Me: What happened in the last chapter?
Kid: The giants played football with the BFG.
Kid 2: Hey Mrs. Thomason, I had a rabbit but it died last night.
Kid 3: My dog died too. Last year.

Many times we haven't been talking about pets or death, and the dead pets come up. WHY????

I think I have learned more about their dead pets, than about these kids, this year!

Stats

• Kids kicked out of the room: 2
• Criers: 2 (both girls, one because a parent got shot (in the leg, he's okay) and the other because a boy was "bothering" her. Isn't that what 8 year old boys do?)
• Nurse passes written: too many to count
• Times the nurse has had to call me to remind me to send a kid down for medicine: twice a day
• Vomiters: 1 (made it to the bathroom)
• Times I tell a kid to sit down and raise their hand instead of getting in my face and saying my name a million times to get my attention: 20 times a day
• Times I am in bed before 10: every weeknight!
• Times I have bought a Dr. Pepper in the evening for survival: twice