my students make me smile:

their strategies for figuring out whether or not santa is real:

"if santa can know whether i am good or bad, he can know what i want for christmas. so this year, i'm not going to tell anyone what i really want. not even my mom and dad. then, if i still get it, santa's real."

"i'm gonna stay up all night. all night long and hide in the family room and watch."
"don't you think you'll fall asleep?"
"no. all night. then i'll know whether santa's real or not."

and these are the days the kids make me nervous...

(talking about world war II)

Teacher: ....and then he was executed at the end of the war. What does executed mean?
Student 1: it means killed
Student 2: with an axe!
Teacher: no, not with an axe anymore...
Student 3, interrupting: no, tied to a chair and shot!


yikes...what video games have these children been playing?