"Teacher, she just said the 's' word!"
I can't tell you how many times I hear that sentence at school. Now the tricky thing is, in first grade there are many 's' words. Here are a few: stupid, shut up, sex, ...
Speaking of sex, a few years ago I was talking to my class about similarities and differences. I had a boy and a girl come to the front of the room, and the class raised their hands and pointed out things that were the same or different between the two. My really smart boy raised his hand and said, "they're different sexes." Of course, no other first grader knows that sex can be another name for gender (or even know what gender means!) so the room filled up with giggles and whispering. I then had to explain that sex can mean male or female. I often wonder how many first graders went home that day and said, "We learned what sex means!"
Now, back to first grade cuss words. Here's one I heard the other day that is new to me: the 'w' word! I had to ask the boy who was tattling to tell me what the 'w' word stands for, and he meekly whispered in my ear, "whatever." Oh. I did not know that was a bad word. Whatev... I mean, okay.
It is nice to know that there is still some innocence in the world. Last year, a boy came in from recess with the tattling look. If you have been around children at all, you will recognize the tattling look. Their eyes are open wide, a mix of surprise and concern on their little faces, their mouth half open, with their index finger pointed in the general direction of the culprit. Anyway, this boy came in and said, "Teacher, I had to call this other boy a retard! I just had to! He was going around calling other kids affols!" Me - "Calling other kids what?" Boy - "affols!" At this point, I realize that the boy initially doing the name calling either had a lisp, or the boy in my class was not hearing clearly. At any rate, "affol" was actually a different word, a true cuss word. It just happened to be a cuss word that this innocent little boy had never heard.
So now, when a girl comes up to say, "he just said the 'f' word!" I can calmly react with the knowledge that she is probably referring to fart.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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7 comments:
Holy cow. I can completely relate! Just this morning, a boy tattled because another boy in the class has said the 'b' word..."butt". It is so hard not to laugh at them at times like these. But the 'W' word??? That's hilarious!
so funny. gotta love working with kids. it gives you an entirely new perspective on some things!
And you thought you were teaching them something... Look how many things you're learning.
That is so funny. I love little kids because they are so innocent. I have been teaching Xander it is okay to say stupid about things but not people and so I get kids telling me all the time that he says the "s" word. I feel stupid is okay because I use it all the time (but only about things not people):)
This makes me laugh! Every family has their vocabulary limits! Kevin and I slip sometimes and say the words we avoid and Sam and Derrick let us have it.
I loved your post!! Mason is just starting to bring up the what not to say words, but he says them and asks why he can't say them, and what if he said that to a tree would that count? I can only imagine mason in 1st grade and seeing those "tattling eyes" or the one who is saying "w" word. btw It was great to see you a few weekends ago. wish I had more time to hang out with you guys.
Oh Celeste, Im sorry for snooping through your blogs but I HAD to comment on this post....I LAUGHED AND LAUGHED until I thought I might wet my pants. Thanks for the laughs
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