Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The top seven effective ways to make a wish according to my First Grade students.

Sometimes first graders can get you so sidetracked.

The other day I was assigning a writing assignment in which they had to write three things they would wish for when blowing the white seeds off of a dandelion. This turned into a conversation of the various methods of wishing and their effectiveness.

After 45 minutes and much brainstorming, this is what the class determined - a countdown of the best wishing methods from worst to best.

7. The Magic Lamp -

Pros:
  • You get to meet a wacky, singing genie that you ain't ever had a friend like.
  • You get 3 wishes, not just one.
Cons:
  • There is probably no such thing as a magic lamp.
  • There is a lot of danger involved in finding one.
6. The Wishbone -

Pros:
  • You get to pull bones apart.
  • It's a nice Thanksgiving surprise.
Cons:
  • Some of the girls think it's gross.
  • It could be that wishbones are nothing more than bones and because they do not have brains, they do not understand that you are even making a wish on them.
5. Dandelions -

Pros:
  • It's easy. Just pick up a dandelion and blow off the white seeds.
  • You weed your lawn while you make wishes. (Although I had to explain the fact that they are actually spreading seeds and likely making the weed problem worse.)
Cons:
  • There are so many dandelions, it might actually kind of "cheapen" your wish, making it less likely that it will come true.
  • It could be that dandelions are nothing more than dandelions and because they do not have brains, they do not understand that you are even making a wish on them.
4. The Wishing Time - 11:11

This was a new one for me, as I had never heard of a wishing time. However, I was informed by 17 students that it actually does exist and that it often EVEN WORKS!

Pros:
  • It comes around once a day.
  • It comes around twice a day if you are allowed to stay up REALLY late.
Cons:
  • You have to try really hard to remember when it happens.
  • You have to have a watch or be by a clock. Sometimes you are outside.
3. The Wishing Well -

Pros:
  • Wishing wells are almost ALWAYS magical.
  • Wishing wells are awesome.
Cons:
  • You could fall down a wishing well and DIE!! (I did not mention Baby Jessica to the students. They were already freaked out enough by the prospect of falling down a well. Strangely enough, Desmond gets pushed into a well in LOST last night. That show is blowing my mind.)
  • It could be that wishing wells are nothing more than wells and because they do not have brains, they do not understand that you are even making a wish on them.
2. Wishing Stars -

Pros:
  • Stars are awesome!
  • It makes no difference who you are.
Cons:
  • You can only make night wishes.
  • It could be that stars are nothing more than giant flaming balls of gas and because they do not have brains, they do not understand that you are even making a wish on them.
1. The Birthday Candle Wish -

Pros:
  • This is the only time your parents kind of let you play with fire.
  • Birthdays ARE very special.
Cons:
  • If you don't blow them all out on your first try, you are so out of luck.
  • It could be that candles are nothing more than burning chunks of wax and because they do not have brains, they do not understand that you are even making a wish on them
** There also was some discussion about finding a four leaf clover and wishes. It was determined that four leaf clovers do not grant wishes, but are just used for good luck. This sparked this discussion on luck:

ABBY: Last week my older brother said he had really bad luck.

ME: Oh yeah?

ABBY: Yeah, first he got in a car crash. And then his girlfriend got REALLY mad at him. She even called him an F word.

OTHER KID: What's the F word?

ME: I'm not sure, but it sounds REALLY bad.

ABBY: Yeah, and then he bought a fish tank and 3 of his fish died in the bag before he even got home.

ME: Wow. That is really bad luck.

ABBY: I know!

36 comments:

Queenie Jeannie said...

I love you!!!!*







* You know; in a totally non-sexual, non-extramarital, goodly, bloggy sorta way!

Tammy said...

I've never heard of a wishing time either but it sounds like a good idea. I also didn't know you were supposed to wish on dandelions. I think my dad probably said to pick them and quickly throw them away before those darn seeds start spreading!

Alexandra said...

Alright, I'm yours. Anyone who adores children as much as I do, is my kind of girl.

Thank you for your visit today, and sweet comment.

I do need to post about that bike. I've gotten more questions on that. It's a peddling bike in the sky, at Legoland in Chicago. And lots o'fun!!!

Lucky mom's in enough good health to do it, b/c baby e sure wasn't carrying his load that day.

Can you say 'dead weight?"

Lovely to see you.

And I'll spread the word to get yu to 100!!

rebecca said...

Here's what I'm wishing - that LOST actually turns out to make sense at the end. What do you think are the odds?

And, btw, thanks for the spoiler on last night's LOST! I taped it and haven't seen it yet!!!!

Robin said...

I couldn't resist checking out someone called cheese man...Im intrigued..?
..and how about a fairy godmother ...I think you can wish from her too...I mean look at Cinderella, the pumpkin and the mice...see that really works..!!

See Mom Smile said...

I am wishing you were my kids 1st grade teacher.

Anonymous said...

At our school, kids say, "Awww, he said the F-word!" And then you ask what's the F-word, and they say, "Stupid!" Or "Idiot." Or something like that. So funny, they don't even know what that is, but just that it's baaad. :)

What about a penny in a fountain? I wonder if that was included in the well discussion.

Connie said...

Sidetracked? Sounds like a perfect writing lesson to me! At least you have some good participation. I can tell you have an advanced class, especially compared to our special ed kindergarten class!

BTW, was it the same kid who talked about not having brains or did all the copycats chorus his remark?

Stephanie Roberts said...

Tsk, tsk, TEACHER! "aloud to stay up REALLY late"? "ALOUD"?

My, my, should you be ALLOWED to be teaching our children?

Just kidding. I have a BA in English, I have to occasionally show it was worth the massive student loan debts I have.

Cute stories, though. My thought to ponder for the day: Do inanimate objects need to know that you are wishing on them in order for the wish to come true?

Melinda said...

I wished at exactly 11:11 today that I would go into labor. Stupid wishing time totally does NOT work!!! :)

Macey said...

Okay, that's cute.
And amazingly on point, for a bunch of 6 year olds!
I have a first grader...he entertains AND teaches me every day.
Also. Desmond. Pushed into a well!!! What is going on with Lost? I'm LOST! :)

Traci said...

Did you see the 30 Rock a few weeks ago when Jenna talks about how she was in a commercial for Well-Guards? The slogan was something like "Guard Your Well, well". So funny. I remember watching Baby Jessica on TV.

Beth Zimmerman said...

You are such a hoot!

Kristina P. said...

This is the coolest assignment ever.

Anonymous said...

What a great post!

I often make a wish at 11:11 and, I assure you, it's a thing. A legitimate wish-making type thing.

Also, I was reading about 11:11 and looked down and OMG (aside - I don't usually OMG in blog comments, but this is big) it was... wait for it... 11:11! So wow to that.

Teachinfourth said...

Do you get wishes from dandelions if you run them over with a lawnmower? If so, I've got a LOT of them coming my way...

Serene is my name, not my life! said...

I would have put the wishing well last. I have nightmares about Snow White singing in her annoying voice down at it.

Wishing time? Hmmm.... That's a first. I'll let you know if it works. ;)

Unknown said...

This was too cute. Or rather, just the right amount of cute for me to smile but not actually gag. The perfect degree of cuteness.

My husband thinks that 11:11 is the bad luck hour. But I think it's just because he hates it when he's still awake at that time.

Sco said...

Funny! I'll bet my daughter LOVED talking about the genie and 11:11, and then she was schooled on the other methods. I wonder if she was an instigator, because my daughters have a lot of theories about making wishes, especially the time-based ones. (12:12, 12:34, 7:07, 8:08, etc. - it's constant at home.)

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

Your kids are pretty darn smart. You're a good teacher. Funny that the girls find a wishbone gross; little girls think just about anything is gross.
cheers,
Robyn

ScoMan said...

Loved this post. Kids are great.

Especially the "They don't have brains and realise that you're wishing on them" part hahaha.

Powdered Toast Man said...

my favorite part was you get to make 2 wishes if you stay up really late. Kids are cute.

tammy said...

Well I know what I'll be doing at 11:11 today.

Conversations with little people are the best.

Pedaling said...

you are the teacher every parent dreams of for their 1st grader.

Anonymous said...

You are sooo close to 100!!! I can't wait! :)

Your blog cracks me up every single time!

Hutch said...

Haha, Kids are awesome! I rarely make it for the 11:11 myself. Going through yellow lights were big for us high school, but we didn't learn about it until we started driving so I'm guessing the 6 year olds wouldn't know that yet. I'm still hoping for my magic lamp so I can live out Aladdin.

Lana@The Kids Did WHAT?! said...

Interesting! I always heard that "11:11" was an angel saying "hi". Ever since I was a ittle girl, if I see the time at 11:11, I always say "hi angels" out loud. Just in case :P

Lindsey Buck said...

You didn't know about 11:11? Dude, that is MY time. It probably works like 67.38% of the time, as long as you don't get greedy. (Extravagant things, like a pony? Don't work as often. But little things like making the snow go away? Those do.)

The logic of 1st graders is undeniable, I envy them in many ways.

Cheeseboy said...

@ Queenie - Thanks! and I suppose blog crushes are the most innocent kind of crush.

@ Tammy - your dad is anti-wish?

@ Empress - Funny you think I am a girl? Is it my girlish handwriting? That cycle thing is pretty cool. Someday I will take my kids to Legoland.

@ Rebecca - Sorry about that. I think that the finale will make a lot of things make sense, but we will still be asking "huh"?

@ Robin - The teachers and I thought of a couple more after I told them about this: the Fairy Godmother and the eyelash.

@ See Mom Smile - Thanks.

@ Fabuleslie - Great name, btw. Yes, the penny in the fountain! How could I have forgotten? Cool to have another teacher commenting.

@ Connie - Yes, I teach the "gifted" class. It's my first year doing it and it is really quite fun. Oh and it was one kid that originally said the no brain thing and then yes, the copycats showed their fur on every thing afterward.

@ Stephanie - I'm sorry. Really I know better, I promise. Thanks for finally commenting cousin!

@ Melinda - I am hoping you are in labor today.

@ Mimi - Yes, first graders are awesome. On Lost: I have a theory why "Locke" pushes Desmond into the well that I am almost positive is the right, but it would take up too much space and time here.

@ Tracy - HA HA! I do remember that! BTW, my wife was glad you came to play group today.

@ Beth - I am like the wise owl of First Grade teacher bloggers.

@ Kristina - It really was. It really was.

@ Reluctant - AMAZING! Please tell me it came true.

@ Teachinfourth - HA HA. You always have funny comments. You must be a teacher.

@ Serene - Snow White's voice is creepy! Why is that? What was Walt thinking? I may have to blog about this.

@ DeNae - Wow, your husband goes to bed early. Glad I could cuten up your day for you.

@ Sco - Okay Scott, here is the thing, IT WAS your hilarious daughter that brought up the 11:11 thing. So it might be that she and her sister just made it up. However, the kids all jumped on board with the "YEAH, I tried it, it worked!" and the "She right! 11:11." So I think they just liked the idea of it and ran with it. Your daughter later told me about all the wishing times she and her sister made up and it was just too funny. I swear sometimes she is like cartoon character silly with some of the stuff she says.

Also, it was your daughter that spoke up about not knowing what the F word was - not surprisingly. I think I played it off pretty well by pretending I didn't know it either. Which I don't.

BTW, almost every First Grader thinks the F word is "Fart".

@ Rawkn - well, they are kinda gross. I guess you could sanitize them before breaking them. We should do that and sell them at novelty shops and such. We could make a fortune!

@ ScoMan - Okay, I have Sco and ScoMan. This is just too much.

@ Powdered Toast - Ha ha! My job is never boring.

@ Tammy2 - I hope you are not referring to little people. They prefer the "midgets" I think.

@ Pedaling - Thanks. Hopefully good dreams.

@ Noelle - I never thought it would get here so quickly. I am getting nervous about it. I asked my Janitor which day the dumpster is emptied. I'm thinking I'd like to do it in an empty dumpster.

@ Hutch - I hope you can find a magic lamp. The kids were fairly certain that they don't exist. Leprechauns = exist. MAgic Lamp = do not exist.

@ Lana - Now that might just be the most adorable thing I have ever heard. Don't share it with DeNae.

@ Lindzena - So it WASN'T something they just made up? I tried it today, but just my luck I wished for a pony.

Dave said...

Here's a lesser known wishing method courtesy of the Dr. Suess book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish:

"Who am I? My name is Ish. On my hand I have a dish. I have this dish to help me wish. When I wish to make a wish I wave my hand with a big swish swish. Then I say, 'I wish for fish!' And I get fish right on my dish. So if you wish to wish a wish, you may swish for fish with my Ish wish dish."

This method apparently only works if your name is Ish and you are wishing for fish.

Mary said...

I love having thoughtful discussions with little kids!!

Lene said...

You are just learning about the wishing time? What college did you go to? Because I had a roommate in college who shared the magic of the wishing time. Her wishing time had a ton of extra rules with it. It could only be the first 11:11 of the month and there was some magic word you had to say or the wish wouldn't come true. Since I have forgotten the magic word I don't have many wished come true.

Tammy said...

My dad is not anti-wish . . . he's anti-dandelion!

imbeingheldhostage said...

You make me want to teach. Apparently I think most like a first grader.
I probably spell like one too...

Cheeseboy said...

@ Dave - That is genius. I'll definitely have to bring that one up with the kids.

@ Mary - It's really what thoughtful discussion SHOULD be.

@ Lene - The wishing time has a magic word? This is way too complicated.

@ Tammy - Yes, but by being anti dandelion, he is being anti wish.

@ hostage - you should teach. You need to get the job that enhanced bedazzler wants before it's too late.

Anonymous said...

Awww....I am a full season behind on Lost (was overseas) and I found 2 spoilers reading your post and comments on 1st grade wishes!! 's alright...someone always gets pushed or punched or something there anyway.

Cute post. I have a rising 1st grader and I love this stuff. Also good to see a male elementary school teacher!

Thanks for stopping by my blog recently - your point was very well taken, and I'm glad to read a dad's perspective. It actually made me re-read my post and choose my words more carefully.