Cheerios

Last year was my first year teaching 5th grade, and it surprised me a lot. One thing that was surprising was that the kids weren't as big as they looked! I actually really enjoy 5th graders because of how I can talk to them and they seem to "get" things on a deeper level. It is quite easy to talk to them about actions and consequences, knowledge and power, and life lessons that we all continue to try to learn and master. Of course, they are a bit trickier and craftier and they roll their eyes much more often than a 3rd grader, but over all I enjoy them.

Last year, I taught Math, Reading, and English. Our students rotated to different classes to learn Social Studies, Science and English, which was new for me and a bit difficult to get used to. Because we had a terrible schedule, we are now rotating to different classes based on their skills in Math and Language Arts, but I teach my homeroom kids Science and Social Studies.

This last week we were learning about cells in Science, which somehow lead to a conversation about cancer cells. My students are so very inquisitive and I certainly do not know enough to answer all of their questions, but one student asked "How do you prevent cancer?" We talked about how doctors and scientists don't really know what CAUSES cancer, so we don't really know how to prevent it yet. There is tons of research to help treat it, but we are still learning about the causes. This was big news to one students in particular who raised his hand and said, "Yes there IS a cure for cancer.......Cheerios! I saw it on a commercial."

True it reduces cholesteral, but who knows....maybe we should all just have a bowl.