Back to School

Last week I went back to school after winter break. I was feeling pretty laid back about the kids acting a little different after being home doing their own thing for two weeks. I mean they are just kindergarteners, they have never done this before. Here are my favorite stories from this week. These stories involve the same boy who I will call Fred. (I use that name often in class as an example.)
Fred is a fun kid. He has learned so many things this year. He is my only student who did not go to a "formal preschool" before kindergarten. Not going to preschool at my school is rare, not so much at other schools. Fred has 3 brothers and sisters so he has a great personality. At back-to-school night he was making farting noises on his arm. He got on an owl tangent early in the year and taught the whole class. He should probably be a comedian some day.
This week:
On Monday we went to the computer lab like usual. It was in the middle of the day and some of the kids were getting very tired. At one point I look over at Fred and he was sitting in his chair completing his assignment with his feet crossed up on the desk. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "just relaxing". I did laugh out loud (how can you not) and told him to please put his feet down. I then proceeded to have him tell other adults about the incident so they could laugh too.
On Wednesday we were having indoor recess (again, it's cold). The class has a variety of things to play with or do during indoor recess. They have begun pretending to be dogs, crawling around the room, barking, using math manipulatives as leaches, the whole nine yards. They have names. Some are "good dogs", some are "naughty". On this particular day Fred was playing a dog. When I looked over in the direction of a loud dog, Fred was up on the table on all fours barking at the "dogs" below. I called his name and told him dogs were not allowed on the table. I think he said something about being a bad dog. Again, I laughed out loud.
These are the joys of kindergarten. There are so many more. I love it, even though I'm praying for a "cold" day this week.