So today we were reading an article about Italy's declining birth rate. We're popcorn reading, and when one kid gets to a paragraph about how Italy's birth rate has dropped below the 2.1 average of children per woman- several kids gasp and one boy says out loud "2.1 kids?!?! How does a woman have 2.1 kids?!" Then another boy at his table says "I guess she gave birth to a toe....I mean, it's only .1 of a child!!" Needless to say, I cracked up laughing...and once I recovered my composure, we had a nice class discussion on averages and how we come up with an average number.
Oh freshmen..... :)
Hi Liz! I think we should collaborate on a blog! I teach 7th and 8th grade ELA and SS and I hear so many hilarious things EVERY SINGLE DAY. It completely makes my job worth it. Here's one of my faves:
ReplyDeleteWhen studying the Holocaust, we were taking some notes and I began abbreviating World War II, WWII. It prompted one student to ask, "Ms. Melissa (we go by our first names at my school), why did they call it, "War War I" and "War War II"? And before I could even pipe up to correct the kiddo, another student chimed in and said, "Seriously? It's because they were twice as bad as all the other wars!"
I just laughed and laughed.