A Tear Saying Sorry

It's happened to all of us.  Something unfortunate slips out of your brain, bypasses the better judgement filters, and shoots out of your mouth.

Something unfortunate....like a curse word. 

Or maybe it didn't so much slip out of your brain, but was enthusiastically shoved down the pipeline.  And maybe the filters were disengaged after you employed the manual override because you wanted the curse word to rocket down the chute like a greased pig, fly out of your mouth and explode in the air like a Fourth of July firework, to the delight of your classmates as you basked in their "oohs" and "aahs."

Once that impressive firework explodes, though, projecting its dazzling bits of light into the sky, there really is no way to pack it back into your mouth and maneuver it back up the pipeline.

Maybe I'm going a little overboard here with the figurative language, but the other day, in quite spectacular and audible fashion, Mariah cursed.

Later, away from the class, she wrote an apology and stamped it with proof of her wholehearted repentance.  The paper is wrinkled where what seems to be a rather juicy tear splashed the note.  A label clearly identifies the wet splotch. 

I can just imagine Mariah thinking, "It's not just me saying sorry and hoping you accept my apology, but also my tear is saying sorry, too."

Stuff that Sounds Like Other Stuff

Stuff that sounds like other stuff thwarts us daily in the third grade.  "Establishing" is not the same as "publishing."  "Contraction" and "fraction"--also deceptively similar.  And a "tampon" is not the larva form of a frog.  I promise. 

I blame the English language.  Really?  Affect / effect?  Who invented that?  Their / there / they're?  Not cool, English.  And don't get me started on apostrophes.  ir / or / ear / ur / er can all make the same exact sound and some of them can turn a verb into a noun some of the time?  Why CAN'T it be good / gooder / goodest?    

Our latest entry in the "Stuff that Sounds Like Other Stuff" category:  cursor. 

As I was going around checking kids' spelling cards last week, making sure they knew the meaning of each of their words, I had Jasmine read off her "ur" pattern words.  Scanning her list for any potential words she might not have known, I asked if she knew what a "cursor" was.  "Yeah" she replied.  "Like cursing.  Someone who does it."

Darn you stuff that sounds like other stuff!  You've foiled us again!

Please Don't Tell My Mom

This past weekend, my husband and I found ourselves aboard paddle boats with some children we had just met. After returning the boats, Nate was standing with the 6-year old by the side of the lake as the boy chucked rocks into the water. Perhaps he hit a duck or something, but Nate definitely heard him exclaim, "Shit!" Nate asked, "What did you say?" and the boy scampered off.

Lots of things "just slip out" in the third grade. Oddly enough, the things that are unintentionally released from the mouth very rarely tend to be compliments or math facts. Maybe the curse words that have recently been written in the boys' bathroom also just slipped out of someone's hand....

I did not me to say that I gest slip out my mouth I sorry gest pleas don’t tell my mom
Darius