Words of Wisdom from 3rd Graders

Today one of the girls in my class left this note on my desk:

The only thing that keeps you going is knowing somewhere in the day you may find the key of life.

Well. That's certainly a deep thought, huh? She also wrote me this other note:

Happy Halloween!!!!
Dear Mrs. Bayles,

I think that you should give us kids your addres tomorrow. Why you ask? I'll tell you! If you give us your addres then we can go trick-or-treating to your house! If you do give us your addres then I will surly come to your house! I bet if you do give us your address then a bunch of other kids will go trick-or-treating to your house too! Plus since you won't see our costumes here in shool, you'll be able to see our costumes right in your very own doorway!

One day my friend, Amy, substituted for me and she noticed that one of the girls kept disappearing to go in the bathroom, so she got after her for it. A while later, the girl wrote this note to her saying: I'm sorry. I'm the person who has to buetify myself, so I went to fix my hair.

For some reason I got lots of notes and pictures today. I have such a cute class this year. When they earn 100% of their Accelerated Reading goal, they get a bag of microwave popcorn and get to pop it in our classroom. I had run out of popcorn when one little girl earned hers and I forgot to take some the next day. In a very serious voice she said to me, "You know, if I was a teacher and I needed to remember to take popcorn to school the next day, I would write a little note and stick it on my bag, then when I picked up my bag I would see the note and remember to take some popcorn to school." I said, "Wow! What a great idea. I'll try it." And you know what? I remembered the popcorn the next day. :)

Fun With Amy and Maiya

Look at that cute little fat face. Little Salote Maimoa Levatau and her mom, Amy, came to Utah/Idaho for a little visit on Friday - Monday. We had a family get together on Saturday at Aaron and Cyndie's house and were real sad that Anneke and Tom and girls couldn't come because of sickness. Ammon's girls weren't there either, because Paige was sick too. And Natalie was working. And Maiya's daddy, Sam, wasn't able to come because of work. BUT everyone else was there and we always have fun when we get together. I loved having Amy and Maiya here Saturday night until Monday morning.

Aaahhhh .

This is Amy and Sam's little Maiya. She was born on the 10th of September. This is my favorite look of her's. Isn't that the cutest little scowl?

Aaahhhh again.

This is Anneke and Tom's newest little bundle of joy, Kara. She was born on September 29th. Oooo kissy cheeks.

Thanks for the dikchunery.

The Preston Elks Lodge and Rotary Club give a dictionary to every third grader each year. It's an exciting time when they walk in with those boxes and hand the kids a dictionary that they keep for their very own. I had my class write thank you notes to them and they were really cute. Here are a couple of cute things they wrote besides saying thank you:

. . . its speshal to me cuz i love words.

. . . may all your wishes come true.

. . .p.s. I'm a girl.

. . .I really couldn't believe my little eyes when I saw those dictionaries.

And then on the back of one, a little girl made an invitation to the Back to School carnival and listed all the information about it. I just hope that all the members of the Elks and Rotary Clubs remember to come to the carnival. :)

A Third Grade Memory

When Aaron was in third grade, his teacher was Mrs. Hoffman. One day she wrote his name on the board for talking and that made him mad because he was not the one who was talking. (For once he was an innocent victim.) His punishment was to have to stay in from recess. Well, he wasn't having anything to do with that, so at lunch time he took his lunch box and headed home to Franklin. Yes, 6 miles away. But - he didn't stick to the main highway. He turned south at the first road to the right after leaving town which eventually took him out on the road that passes Little Mountain. So he REALLY went the long way. (Maybe he was worried that Mrs. Hoffman was going to come after him.) Actually, what she WAS doing was looking all over for him, along with the prinicpal, Jerry Waddoups. She called me to let me know that he hadn't come in after lunch recess and I probably ought to go up to help look for him. At that time Anneke was in the 6th grade, Ammon in the 4th, and Andrea was in Kindergarten. Amy was a baby and I was probably expecting Andy. So anyway, we searched the field of corn by the school and all over town. Hans was delivering mail and I called him and said he better come because we just couldn't find him. By then school was over and some of the teachers who were commuting to Logan looked for him on the way home and called me from Franklin saying that he wasn't there.
But all that time he was hiking along the back roads and even took a lunch break and sat down in the gutter to eat his lunch. We decided we better call the police for some help and I decided to take kids home so that Anneke could watch them and then I'd go back to Preston. Yes, all kinds of horrible thoughts were going through my mind by this time. Hans stayed in Preston to keep looking around and I'm sure that Marilynn Hoffman was getting pretty sick about it all. When the kids and I walked into the house, there Aaron was - sitting on the floor, eating a snack, and watching cartoons! I was so relieved and so angry at the same time I didn't know whether to hit him or hug him. So I just went in my room and cried like a baby. When Hans got home, he hugged him and had a good talk with him. Hans was good that way. It took me a while to get over it all. But I was thankful that my Aaron boy was okay.

School Started!

Wednesday, August 26, the students arrived. So far I think I have a great class. They are so cute, and we've had fun getting to know each other. I gave them a paper to fill out that has 3 questions on it. I wrote down some of my favorite answers:

1. What I like the most about being in the Third Grade:

• My techerer :)
• Recess
• crs of riting (cursive writing - isn't that cute how he sounded that out?)

2. What makes me nervous about being in the Third Grade?

• Evryteng about 3rd grad
• ther might be bullys in the class. (Don't worry, I'll make sure there aren't.)
  
• I don't now anyone. (student is new to Preston area)

3. One thing that I hope to be able to do in Third Grade:

• Paint
• go on fill drips (field trips)
  
• pass
  

I think we'll throw in a few spelling lessons too while we're at it. I have two granddaughters in 3rd grade this year and it has really made me look at the kids this age in a different way. They are still so young and innocent. They are precious and I'm so lucky to be able to spend 5 days a week with them and hope that Anna's and Kylee's teachers feel the same way about them.