"You look like a Queen!"

In my class this year, I have 10 girls and 5 boys. Most of my girls are "girly." Their teacher, me, is also very "girly." One of my reading groups has five girls in it and one boy. The five girls in that group are very "girly." If we aren't careful, we end up talking about jewelry, clothes, and other things, at times, after we read. This year, my class knows that my older brother is getting married. He is actually getting married in a week. My kids, especially my "girly girls", ask me questions. You know girls, they love weddings. I think it is funny how even when girls are so young, they are so interested in weddings. Well, they know I'm a bridesmaid, so they ask questions about my dress and shoes and all the stuff concerning the wedding. Well, today, I brought my camera in and showed them a picture of myself with my hair done, make up done, and bridesmaid dress on, and shoes on for the wedding. I was trying things on and "practicing" with my hair and makeup. Well, I was showing my girls the picture, and my one boy in the reading group looked at the picture and said, "You look like a Queen!"
I thought that was SO sweet! I laughed at it, too, though because I was shocked. But, I thought that was one of the sweetest things I've heard. If he keeps being sweet, he will make one girl very happy one day! I loved what came "Out of the Mouth of Babes."

"Here comes the bride"

Recess time lately is full of so much laughter, not just the laughter of my children but my own laughter. They make me laugh SO hard! My kids are hilarious! I have told some of my friends, some of you that read this blog, my kids are a blast! I wish you all could meet them. They are just so much fun. They do the funniest things.
The other day, the boys were running to the swings singing "Here comes the bride"(which is weird they were singing that song anyway) and falling off the swings. I don't know why they were doing that. I don't know what the purpose of that was. But, it really was funny! The way they were falling was just so funny because they were rolling over the mulch. They, themselves, were laughing so hard. Some of the stuff they do really is nonsense, but it is funny. They enjoy doing it. I, truly enjoy watching them having fun! It is a pleasure to be their teacher and laughing with them and their craziness. I enjoy watching the craziness my "babes" do.

"Why do snacks make kids so quiet?"

Tonight, I had the privilege to babysit three children. I LOVE children! If you know me, you know or should know that about me. Children are my life. Well, I had the opportunity to babysit three children after school today, take them to dinner, and take them to church. I told them if they did a good job in church, especially the youngest, that he would get a treat after church. Well, he did a pretty good job! We had a good time. On the way to get a treat, we were singing in the car, "If You're Happy and You Know It." I had such a good time! So, we went to McDonalds. The girls and I got ice cream. The boy got fries. We were on the way home. The oldest girl (11) said, "Why do snacks make kids so quiet?" I thought that was so cute! That is a good idea! I guess whenever you want kids to be quiet..... feed them :-) Not really.... it was cute, though. It made me laugh. I wanted to share what came "Out of the Mouth of Babes."

Puppy Stories

One of our last writing assignments for first grade is that the students had to write stories about puppies. Well, my kids did! I wanted to share two of them with you. They were all cute! But, these two I thought were really neat. I hope you enjoy them.
The first one: "I like puppies. I like big puppies and little puppies. I like medium size puppies and they like to play ball and like to take a nap." I like how he included all size puppies! :-) I did correct the spelling in his story.
Here is the second story. I thought this one was quite entertaining! " I like puppies because they're so soft and furry and cute! Do you have a dog because if you do, it uses the bathroom a lot! So, I hope you don't get one because you have to clean behind them. So never get a puppy. You can if you want to, you can. But I'm not, unless my Mommy or my Daddy says so, but I don't want one!" I thought that was so funny that she talked about cleaning up behind the dog.
So, those are just two of my puppy stories that came from "Out of the Mouth of Babes."

Our Own Little Language

I "speak" a lot with my facial expressions. One thing I do often is, I wink. I remember being in kindergarten, my principal would wink at me. I would wink right back at him. I credit him for teaching me to wink. That is probably why I wink a lot to my kids. One day this past week, one of my reading groups decided we were just going to wink. One girl, bless her heart, cannot wink. It is hilarious! In order for her to wink, she has to hold the non-winking eye down with her hand. One child, when she winks, her whole nose scrunches up. It is too cute! We had fun watching each other wink. I know this sounds silly, but it was fun! We have a good time together- winking and all! It is just funny to see them wink back at me when I wink at them. It is our own little language. I enjoy it and wanted to share something that "babes" and teacher do.

What Matters to Us, Matters to God!

These past several months have been amazing in my class regarding the spiritual aspect. This class is spiritually sensitive. They get excited about praying for others and seeing prayers answered. It is exciting for me!
One thing the Lord has been teaching me, therefore, I've been sharing with my kids, is that what matters to us matters to God. I am so thankful for that! So, I tell them if it is important to us, we need to share it with God because He cares about it, and it is important to Him.
Remember, I teach first grade. One big thing to happen to first graders is that they lose teeth. I have a student who has not lost a tooth, yet. She has had a loose tooth for a few weeks, now.
So, we've been praying for her to lose that tooth before the school year is out. Well, this past week, she came to school with one less tooth! The kids were excited to see that! I know this may sound silly to you, but it really is exciting to see the children get excited. I am even hearing from parents that their child is going home and praying for requests like for this child to lose her tooth. That is exciting to me! It is exciting to see prayers answered from "Out of the Mouth of Babes." I am so proud and privileged to be a part of this!

"We found treasure!"

At recess today while I was watching my kids, two of my boys came running to me saying, "We found treasure!" They came and gave me their "treasure." Their "treasure" was a broken zipper. I took it and thanked them for it and put it in my pocket, and they went off for more "treasure" hunting. Soon, they came back. "We found more treasure!" This "treasure" was a pen cap. Again, I took this "treasure." The boys were so excited! Again for the third time, they were off! Soon, they returned. This time they brought another "treasure." One boy said,"It's a sticker." I said, "No, it's a band aid. Gross! That's not a treasure!" However, they still liked that "treasure." It was neat and funny to see what my little boys enjoyed seeking and finding as their "treasure." It is funny to watch what "babes" do. It made me laugh!

Choir of Sweet Voices

There are so many things I love about teaching! There are so many things that "get " to me. One of my favorite things for me to hear my children say and do is the Lord's prayer. It is amazing to hear six and seven year olds quote the passage found in Matthew 6. Usually when the children say the Lord's prayer, I say it with them, but today, I just had to listen. I listened to the choir of sweet voices say the Lord's prayer. It was so precious and sweet what came "Out of the Mouth of Babes."

"Whisper a Prayer"

This week at school one of my students was sick for most of the week. We missed her a lot! We prayed for her everyday, several times throughout the day. The children were really missing her. This group of children that I have this year is a "tight" group. I always call each class I teach a "family." But, this class really is that close. For the most part, they all get along that well with each other. They are SO fun!
Well, on Friday morning during Bible time, it was our prayer time. Each day, three different children come up and give prayer requests. Then, I assign the requests, and they pray for each other's request and any request we may have as a class to share. This whole week we have been praying for this girl to feel better and come back to school. The children pray, and then I pray. While I was praying, the door opened. I looked up, and it was her! Yes, my kids eyes should be closed, but they looked up and were all so excited to see her! We had just finished praying for her. As far as they were concerned, God just answered their prayer! That is fine with me.
Then, immediately after praying, the song that we sung, suggested to sing from my curriculum, was "Whisper a Prayer." Here are the words to this song:
"Whisper a prayer in the morning, Whisper a prayer at noon. Whisper a prayer in the evening, He will keep your heart in tune. God answers prayer in the morning, God answers prayer at noon. God answers prayer in the evening. He will keep your heart in tune."
I do not know why, but the song was just a rebuke and an encouragement to me that day. We just prayed for this little girl to come back to school. Then, singing this song right after we saw our answered prayer, it was neat! I am glad my students and I got to see it! I, truthfully, teared up. It was encouraging to me and a great reminder to me on how God does hear and answer our prayers- even the ones that come"Out of the Mouth of Babes."

"I Got New Socks!"

Getting new things is always exciting! I love getting new things, personally, I love getting new jewelry. :-) Well, kids are the same way. They like to get new things, too. Well, today one of my little boys came to me and said, "Miss Pregony, did you notice any thing new about me?" Well, I looked at him. I looked at his mouth first. I checked to see if he had lost any teeth. That is a big thing to happen in first grade. I then looked at his clothes. I didn't notice anything new. I said, "No." He then bent down. I was thinking he must have gotten new shoes, but I didn't notice them being new. He pulled at his socks. He said, "I got new socks!" He had the biggest grin on his face. It was so cute! He was so excited about his new pair of socks. Apparently, I was supposed to notice them. Oops! Sorry! I thought it was priceless on how excited he was to share with me about his socks, so I wanted to share with you on what came "Out of the Mouth of Babes."

"Rhymes with Pregony"

One awesome sign of spring is the beautiful bloom of fresh flowers. Sometimes being a teacher, I receive flowers from my students. Last Friday, one of my students gave me a beautiful bouquet of fresh tulips. They were beautiful! I have never received tulips before. So, I was really happy about them.
Today, Thursday, one of my students brought in a beautiful flower for me. It was a beautiful purple. She said, "It is a Peony, and it rhymes with Pregony." I thought that was cute! It rhymes with my last name! :-) I thought that was funny and had to share the fact that the flower rhymes with my name and that it came "Out of the Mouth of Babes."

Taking a bite out of Mulch

This is an absolutely hilarious story! However, I must say, it is probably hilarious to me because I was there. I will try my best to explain why I think this is so funny. It is also the type of story I wish I had a camera, or better yet, a video camera to capture the moment.
It happened Wednesday afternoon at recess. Lately, my children have been obsessed with the swings. The past couple of days, my boys have tried this new thing with the swings. They would run a few feet from the swing and land on the swing on their stomachs. Yes, I allow them to do this! I feel like this is harmless. Under the swings, is a nice padding of mulch. So, the kids are really safe. The boys have a blast doing this!
Well, today one of my boys was doing this. I was watching him. He was having fun. He was away from the swing. He ran to the swing to land on it. Instead of landing on it, he missed it! He jumped right over it! He landed on his belly! His mouth must have been opened! When he got up, he had mulch/dirt over his face, mouth, shirt and pants. I went over to him to make sure that he was alright. I was hoping he didn't get hurt. When I found he was o-kay, I had to laugh. It really was funny! A funny part was, he had mulch on his teeth, and he was trying to spit it out of his mouth. When I said he was covered, he was covered! I have heard taking a bite out of crime before, but I have never heard taking a bite out of mulch! :-) Well, I had to share this story about what one of my "babes" did. Yes, he is o-kay! I did check that out first, before I started laughing!

Personal and Tender Moment

For those of you that know me, know that four and a half years ago my father passed away from liver cancer. The reason why I am bringing this up on a blog about my "kids" is because I am going to "tie" it in with one of them. It seems that the Lord has used this very painful part of my personal life so many times to be a help (or try to be a help) to others.
Well, this year in my class, I have had a first. I have had the privilege to teach a boy whose mother passed away a few years ago, I think the year after my father passed away. As you can imagine, this is a bond we share. I often compare it to something like a "club" no one wants to be in. There has been times we have talked about our parents and try to imagine what they are doing up in Heaven. I have said things to him like, I wonder if my dad and your mom are watching us now while we are in class. It really is sweet! It helps me, hopefully it is a help to him.
Today, for me, for some reason, was just a hard day. For some reason, I think it was a hard day for him today, too. I think we both missed our parents! He was quite "huggy." At this age, children are still "huggy" (one reason why I still love this age!). But, today, he was more so than usual. The other children noticed and even commented on it. We started talking about how he is missing his mommy. Somehow it got about me missing my dad, too. We got talking about missing those we love. I actually teared up and tried to hide it-- but they are pretty observant. It was just a personal and tender moment with my children today. It was a sweet time!
It gave me an opportunity to remind them to be thankful for their moms and dads and to tell them that they love them. I do enjoy being able to talk to my children about things concerning life not just school. Maybe it will be a reminder to you, as it is to me, to be thankful for those we do still have in our lives. That's what happened today with my "babes."

Robot Spelling

As part of my phonics curriculum for first grade, we have spelling lists. We spend about the last five or so minutes of phonics class each day going over our spelling list for the week. Usually, we first use the say, spell, say method. That is when we say the word, spell the word, then say it again. After we do that, then we often review the list in a fun way! Well, about a week ago while doing the say, spell, say method my silly kids decided to do their spelling words in a monotone kind of way, all of a sudden. I honestly do not know who started it. Now, they do not know the meaning of monotone. I don't know how it happend! They really sounded funny! To me, they sounded like robots. I usually do the words with them, but I had to stop because it was TOO funny! I started laughing. After they were done, I told them they sounded like robots. Now, they do it on purpose. Everytime we do our spelling words they always ask if they sound like robots. I told them I don't mind if they sound like robots as long as they do a good job. So, evidently I have a class full of "robots." So, that is what is coming "Out of the Mouth of Babes."

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is right around the corner! For Mother's Day, I had my students write letters to their mothers as part of their gift to them. I told them to write whatever they want. I did not help them at all, except for a little spelling. I want to share a few of the letters with you. There are some funny and sweet ones. I am writing them the way they are written. If you need help with "translation," let me know.

The first one I wanted to share is, "Dear Mommy I hope you have a happy Mothers day. Not just a happy Mothers day. I mene a happy happy happy Mothers day." Cute!

This one I think is sweet and funny. "Dear Mommy Happy Mother's Day! I love you your a great Mommy and we have are ups and downs and you are my star." I think it is cute how she said they have their ups and downs! :-) Remember, this came from a seven year old.

Here is another sweet letter written to a mother. "Dear Mom, Happy Mother's Day I love you. The flower's bloom because of you. You make me glad when I am sad. Happy wishes. XOXOXOXOXOXO"

Another one I wanted to share "Dear Mommy Happy Mother's Day all your wishes have come true. Your the best Mom a child could ever had. I'm glad Mother day. I love you and I hope you have a great Mother's day and this is why I am writing this spelshel letter to you Mommy the best bestes Momy! Love forever and aways" Isn't that sweet?

This is the last letter I wanted to share and perhaps my favorite. "Dear Momy I love you so much that I cold huged you all day long and it is true. I love you. farry much you are sweet. and you are beautiful and nice."

I wanted to share these wonderful and sweet letters with you. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did. I hope you were touched by what came "Out of the Mouth of Babes." I wish all the mothers out there reading my blog a very Happy Mother's Day!

Sisters?!?!

This past Wednesday afternoon I had a great blessing happen in my classroom. I wanted to share it with you all that read my blog. I hope and pray that it may be a blessing to you as it was a blessing to me and those to whom I have already shared it with. Remember, I have the privilege to teach at a Christian school.
I took my children outside for recess in the afternoon, on Wednesday. Two of my little girls were on the swings swinging. One little girl said to the other, "We're sisters." The other one said, "No, we're not." The first one said, "Yes, we are." The second one said, "No we aren't." This went back and forth. Then the second little girl finally said, "We can be if you are saved. We can be sisters in Christ." The first girl then said, "I'm not saved. I'm almost saved." The second girl said, "You can't be almost saved. You have to be saved." Then the second girl called me over. I was already close by "listening" anyway. I talked to the first girl, and she told me she almost got saved at church once. I told her that she can't almost get saved, but she needed to get saved. She told me that she didn't know how to get saved. I then told her that I could show her how to get saved if she wanted me to and if she asked me to.
Well, after recess when we got upstairs to the classroom, she told me she wanted to get saved! I had the honor and privilege to lead this little girl to the Lord! I count it a true honor to open God's Word and share it with her and present the plan of salvation to her. It is always so humbling to me to be used of God in a way such as this. But what really got to me on this day more than any other day I have ever led a child to Christ, was that on this day the Lord used another six year old. If my other student did not say what she said about being sisters in Christ, I might not have had the opportunity to lead this little girl to the Lord. I am so proud of my student for saying what she said about being sisters in Christ! God used her! God used a six year old. How awesome is that! It is amazing to me how God used what came "Out of the Mouth of Babes."