I had a moment last week where I laughed so hard I was crying. It came at a rather inopportune time, as I was dictating sentences for the students to write down during a Fundations (word study)review. The sentences are written in the teacher's edition and you are supposed to read them and the students write them- a fairly straightforward endeavor. Except the first sentence I read involved James getting riding instruction on a saddle and the kids were befuddled.
"What type of instruction- writing?"
"Why is he on a saddle?"
"What is a saddle?"
By the time I was done with the James saddle sentence, it was time to read the one about Wendy. The sentence I was to dictate said: "At the explosion, Wendy dropped the beautiful candlesticks." I could not even read it for laughing so hard. I suppose it is not very funny that Wendy was at an explosion, but I kept thinking she had bigger worries than dropping her beautiful candlesticks. They waited for me to stop laughing but they were laughing too as I kept attempting to dictate the sentence, only to collapse in giggles again. After multiple tries, I read the sentence.
What's funny now, is that the kids keep bringing up Wendy and her candlesticks. I was reading a story to them that made mention of an explosion, and one of my clever kids said, "I hope Wendy held onto her candlesticks." They find ways to weave Wendy into the conversation, and even work back to James and his saddle. It is funny and brings some comic relief to the serious business we are mostly engaged in during the day.
I was thinking about challenging the class to write Wendy's story, explaining how she came to be holding beautiful candlesticks near an explosion. I think it would be interesting to see all the different stories that could develop from that one ridiculous dictated sentence. It feels so good to laugh in the classroom and it so much fun when we are all in on the same joke together, building our community with camaraderie.
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