Yesterday, they kept telling me, “We’re going to have a Valentine’s party tomorrow, aren’t we?”  I honestly hadn’t thought much about it, but these convincing (and persistent) little ones have now got me to buy them little Valentines which I know they are SO excited to receive.  Kids, I believe, are the best salespeople on this earth, sometimes.  They know what they want, they focus on it and they’re not afraid to have the “closing conversation” to ask for exactly what they want.  Either that or I’m a sucker! 

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Wishing you the hugs and love from all of us at AMIGOS!

We have a lot of first grade boys, ages 5-7.  I tend to tutor them on Wednesdays because 1st grade is the most labor intensive of all the tutoring help needs.  The other day, we were tutoring as usual, focusing on getting our homework done in the allotted time…  All of the sudden, José turns to me and says, “Teacher?” 

“Yes, José?” I ask, checking to make sure that he’s paying attention to his homework as he should be.  He shifts his eyes right and left, like a suspicious detective, alerted to an offense of the most agregious nature.  “Teacher.”  He looks at me very seriously, wrinkles up his nose and sniffs the air around him to ensure that his conclusion is correct, and very concerned, continues his thought, ”I think someone pulled a joke.”  (A “joke” if you haven’t caught on to his secret language, is a kind word for “fart” which I am SO glad his parents taught him, since the word “fart” can be heard miles a way in children’s land.)

Attempting to control my internal howls of laughter, I assure him that he can just ignore it and it’s okay.  He looks at me with the shifty eyes again, unsure if he can really trust my assessment, sniffing a few more times before he settles back into his book.  Phew.  That was a close one!