Angie Was Being Bullied

I have duty in the morning at the front of the school where many of the kids get dropped off. We have safety patrols out there opening doors for the kids and we all tell the kids "good morning" and "have a nice day" and so on.

Angie gets dropped off there. She is in 2nd grade and this is her first year at our school. Last week, a boy was moved to her classroom because he was having trouble getting along with his former class. Now he is having trouble getting along with his new class as well.

Angie was already being bullied by this new kid in her room. When Angie's class came to Drama, I could tell they were all frustrated and Angie even raised her hand to tell me that he bothered her all the time. The next morning, I stopped her and talked to her about some strategies that she could use like ignoring, moving away from the kid, etc. Angie’s mother saw me talking to her and called the principal and told him, "That man in front of the school is talking to my daughter!"

My principal was very understanding. He told me what I already knew--There is a double standard for men who teach in an elementary school.

I understand her concern, but come on!

Lifegaurd

OK, I was trying to be funny. In the First Grade classroom where I was tutoring, there was a picture of a lifegaurd in a lifegaurd bathing suit. I said, "Uh oh, look at that!" and then I whistled the "wolf whistle". Here's what Elie said:

Mr. Bowers, that's not a hottie, that's a lifegaurd.

You Would Think

You would think that with a name like Raman, this Pre-K'ers favorite noodle would be the Ramen Noodle, but you would be wrong.

Raman's favorite noodle is...SUPERGHETTI


Superghetti. How cute is that?

One Word Stories

In one of the Drama books that I use my class, there is a game called, "One Word Stories." In this game, the kids line up and tell a story one word at a time like this:

KID 1: Once
KID 2: apon
KID 3: a
KID 4: time

...and so on.

Today, part of the story went like this:

...the...dinosaur...liked...to...eat...cotton candy...M & M's...police officers...and ...butterflies.


Those crazy dinosaurs!

Where To Sit

With Obama being the new president, I was reflecting on our country's past. I was reminded of when I taught a regular class for one year--not Drama--just a regular 2nd grade class, and we were talking about Rosa Parks and her whole situation with the bus.

One of my kids, Keana, raised her hand:

KEANA: My mom is white and my dad is black. Where would I sit on the bus? Would I sit with my mom or my dad?
MR. BOWERS: I don't think your family would have been allowed to even get on the bus!

She understood what I meant. We've come a long way!

Helping Our Community

MR. BOWERS: Kids, what things can YOU do that will help our community?
SYDNEY: We can pick up trash and recycle.
MR. BOWERS: Yeah, that's a good one. What else?
CHARLIE: Don't step on beetles because if you kill all the beetles, then we would all end up with piles of poop in our yards.
MR. BOWERS: Um, yeah, ok, what else?

This Year's Kinder Occupations

Every year, I ask the Kindergarteners to act out what they want to be when they grow up.

Brianna was doing some craziness with her hands and opening doors and closing them and stuff. We were all totally confused and had no idea what she was going to be, so I asked her:

BRIANNA: When I grow up, I'm gonna pick gold!
MR. BOWERS: Okay, but what was all that door opening business?
BRIANNA: I'm gonna open the door to get the gold, and hide it so nobody gonna get it.