Wheatzie

Every year I show Matilda in my 4 th grade classroom.   WHAT A MOVIE.  It never gets old. And every year my students call me Miss Trunchbull for the remainder of the year.   (You’d think I’d have learned by now…why am I showing it in September as opposed to May, just before we leave for the summer??) The whole Miss Trunchbull thing is actually very funny and we all get a good laugh out of it…unless I really am mad at them and am in the middle of giving them the what-for and one of them mutters something like, “GEEZ, Miss Trunchbull…who peed in your Cheerios this morning?   Have a piece of chocolate or something.” I can get kind of frustrated when they do that to me, but then I just go all Trunchbull and give the heathen who said it a lunch detention and immediately feel better. I found this drawing of “me” on my desk earlier in the year.   It even came with a cute little caption on the back. Aren’t they funny…

Last week, my 4 th graders and I reviewed possessive nouns, and I gave them a worksheet so they could get some individual practice. “Work quietly,” I instructed, “and ask from your seat if you have a question. I can talk you through it, and our interaction might help someone else with the same or a similar question.   I have a LOT to do, so I’ll be grading papers while you work.” I knew it wouldn’t work.   They are a chatty class.   Telling them to work quietly has proven futile, but I still try.   God help me, I still try. I had about 25 seconds of blessed silence when I heard this from one of the girls: “WHEATZIE!   Quit eating and GRADE PAPERS!   You said you had a lot to do!   And GET OFF YOUR PHONE, TOO!” FIRST OF ALL, I had been up since my usual 5:15 AM and I’m not a big breakfast person, so around 8:30, I start to get a little hungry. EXCUSE ME for nibbling on the APPLE that I had packed.   And SECONDLY— “I’ll have you know th...