PBJs and president lincoln

Desperately trying to find time in the schedule between now and intersession (two days left) to do the Peanut Butter Sandwich Thing. I did it last year, with great success, but this year, especially with the writing and with trying to stick closer to my math map than previous years, it's been ... crunchy, time-wise.

Photo caption: The instructions said "Next, put the jelly on the bread." So he did!"

So, I am having an e-mail dialogue with one of my students, who is obsessed with the topic of presidential assassinations. We read two KidBiz articles about the election, one entitled "Who Is Barack Obama?" and then, just for balance, "Who Is John McCain?" Somehow his little mind got wrapped around ill-fated presidencies and now the system keeps shooting me filter warnings that say, essentially, "One of your students used a naughty word that got filtered and blocked by our system." Words like "die," "hate," "kill," and "gun" are all filtered by the system, so for this ongoing dialogue I have to open two emails for every message - the one from the system, alerting me of these, uh, terrible words, and then the original message.

Anyway, some highlights from the e-convo:

Dear Ms. D_C,

If America is a free country, why do we even need a President?

- K

Dear K,

Good question. Well, we need a President because we need a strong, caring person to be a leader in good times and in bad. Even though we are (mostly) free to make our own choices, we need a responsible, self-directed President who is a complex thinker and an effective communicator to lead the people. That's why ^some people are so excited to vote for John McCain or Barack Obama.

Sincerely,

Ms. D_C

Dear Ms. D_C,

So people are like bored of George Bush?

- K.

Dear K,

Not necessarily bored, but he has some ideas that some people do not agree with. So they are anxious to have a new leader for our country.

Sincerely,

Ms. D_C

Dear Ms. D_C,

Why do some presidents get murdered? I don't get it. Is it because of their skin color? And also I thought President Lincoln got killed at a play, but National Treasure said it was at a party. Which one is true? Do they go to jail if they kill a president or do they get killed right away , like right after they kill the president? Write back.

Sincerely,

K.

---

Um ... hm. Kids wonder the darnedest things. Note to self: Stop e-communications w/K and invite him to have lunch tomorrow.

Speaking of correspondence, remind me to blog the math test letters. (I gave a test on fractions and ratios; one item asked them to write letters to these fictional students who thought certain fractions were larger or smaller than certain others, and to explain why the fictional student was correct or incorrect. It was obvious to most of the (real) students that the two (fictional) students were complete idiots, but they were so hilariously polite in their responses to them that I'll have to blog them later.