Tag Archives: elementary school

Proverb

Nationality: Indian-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Saddle River, NJ
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Gujarati

“It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.”

This is a proverb that Amy said she learned when she was probably in elementary school.  She learned this proverb along with many other proverbs.  She noted that at the time, she did not really understand what the proverb meant, nonetheless what the purpose of a proverb was.  She told me that she does not really say this proverb that often; before she told it to me, she said she had to think about it for a while and then she remembered it.  Even though she rarely says the proverb, she likes what it means.  The way she described the meaning was that it is a different thing to actually do something than just stepping back and watching somebody else do it.

The way I interpret this proverb is that from a distance, everything looks easy and simple; however, once you face your fears or the task at hand, you have to try to make an effort to become brave.  Even though this proverb is not widely popular, it can apply to all different people if they are put in a situation where they have to overcome a fear.  In my interpretation, the proverb also challenges the audience to go an extra step and to be braver.

Also seen in: Aesop.  Aesop’s Fables. New York: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1990.

Game – Barrington, Rhode Island

Nationality: Polish, Italian, American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Barrington, RI
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

“There was a game we used to play during lunch at school where you would, uh, hold an apple by its stem. Then you would twist the apple, and with each twist you would say like ‘A, B, C…’ and so on. Whatever letter you said with the stem broke off represented the first initial of a boy. Then you would take the stem and start to poke and stab your apple with it, while saying ‘A, B, C…’ again. Whatever letter you said when the stem broke the skin of the apple stood for the second initial of a boy’s name. The two initials together were those of the boy you were going to marry.”

Catherine told me she would play this game in elementary school probably first learning it when she was about 8 years old in Barrington. She described that this game was always played with girls during lunch and they would giggle and laugh and try to guess what boy in school had the initials that you would get. If they could think of a boy with those initials then they would tease and say, “you’re gonna marry _____!” This could be embarrassing if you did happen to have a crush on that boy or if he happened to be a boy who was very annoying and you could not stand. Either way, it was all light-hearted fun that girls could joke about.

Catherine felt that this game was children’s way of making fun of the institution of marriage. It allowed her and her friends, who had little responsibility at a young age, to control their future with regards to a very serious and mature commitment such as marriage. She believed that it was their attempts to try and grasp adult notions of relationships but by making it a fun and amusing game to laugh about. Because this game was so silly, Catherine believes that it was a way to undermine the almost somberness that can come with a serious relationship and to liven it up with spontaneity in determining your future.

I noticed the symbolic significance of the apple in this game of future mates. Apples are associated with Eve and the Fall into Original Sin, implying temptation and lust for the mate that your apple would decide for you. Furthermore, it stresses the importance for girls to bear children, or the fruit of their loins so to speak. To do so, she would need a suitable mate with which to procreate. This game touches on issues of sexuality and female maturity, creating a situation where young girls can pretend to involved in adult issues but not actually have to deal with the responsibilities that come with marriage or motherhood.

Playground Rhyme – United States of America

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: January 24, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Miss Suzie had a steamboat

The steamboat had a bell

The steamboat went to heaven

Miss Suzie went to

Hello operator

Please give me number nine

And if you disconnect me

I’ll blow off your

Behind the ‘fridgerator

There was a piece of glass

Miss Suzie fell upon it

And broke her little

Ask me no more questions

Please tell me no more lies

The boys are in the bathroom

Zipping up their

Flies are in the meadow

The bees are in the park

Miss Suzie and her boyfriend

Are kissing in the D-A-R-K D-A-R-K DARK DARK DARK!

The dark is like a movie

A movie’s like a show

A show is like a TV screen

And that is all I know

I know my ma

I know I know my pa

I know I know my sister with the 80-acre bra!

My mom is like Godzilla

My dad is like King Kong

My sister is the stupid one who made up this whole song!

I learned this rhyme during elementary school, sometime during first or second grade (1994 or 1995). It was a popular recess chant, usually done in pairs (sometimes with variation for groups of three or four). As the chant took place, the participants would slap their partner’s hands, and alternately clap their own. This hand slapping pattern remains the same throughout the entire rhyme, except at the “DARK DARK DARK!” portion, when the partners slap each others’ hands three times in a row, punctuating each syllable.

I don’t think any boys participated in this activity. Thus, it was passed down solely from girl to girl, which fits the last line of the chant—implying that an anonymous “sister” made up the rhyme and passed it along to her sister or friends. When my sister learned this song (neither of us can recall if she learned the whole thing from me, or if she learned some of it from others on the playground), she took great enjoyment in saying that I was the “stupid one” as she completed the rhyme.

About a year and a half after learning this song, the recess attendants expressed their disapproval of this ditty, and if anyone was caught doing it, she would get in trouble. As a second or third grader, I thought this was very unfair—although “bad words” were hinted at, they weren’t explicitly said. Taboo words like “Hell” and “ass” were quickly saved by adding an extra syllable or sound to create “hello” and “ask,” respectively. This “Miss Suzie” chant is a good display of children trying to push the limits of authority: how far can you go without actually getting in trouble?

The idea of taboo words seems to leave the song after the proclamation “DARK DARK DARK!” Talking to some of my friends nowadays, the point after this line is where the most variety seems to appear. This implies that the rhyme was added to over time, though the additions maintained the rhyme scheme and rhythm present from the beginning of the song. In fact, I vaguely remember that this particular version of the rhyme is not the one I originally learned in second grade. I think the “godzilla,” “king kong,” and “stupid one” lines were added after I had initially learned the chant, sometime during third grade, probably.

After third grade, students typically stopped participating in chants like these at recess in favor of other games. Rather than being due to developmental changes or varying interests, this might have been due to the recess attendants who wanted to stop us from repeating this chant with its “bad words.”

Joke – United States of America

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 6
Occupation: Student
Residence: Vancouver, WA
Performance Date: March 20, 2008
Primary Language: English

What do you call a snail on a ship?

A snailor!

My brother says that he first heard this from one of his friends. The punchline makes use of a pun on the words “snail” and “sailor,” combining them into one word: “snailor.” Derek likes this joke because “snailor is a funny word!” When asked if he knows any jokes, this is typically the one that comes to his mind first.

As a current first-grader, children at that age are becoming more creative with language and are learning how to express themselves more clearly through written word and oral speech. At this time, they are also figuring out what words can and cannot go together, in addition to distinguishing nonsense words. Combining two words to form “snailor” makes no sense outside the context of the joke, but the combination of “snail” and “snailor” is easily seen when the punchline is accompanied by the question. First-graders know that “snailor” is not a real word, but the fact that it exists in this joke makes sense for them: they know what a snail is, and they know what a sailor is. The jump from the two separate words to one word is easily made, since the first syllable of “sailor” is nearly identical to “snail.” Since the two words are relatively simple, it is easy for a 6- or 7-year-old to see the cleverness of the term “snailor,” and thus find the joke amusing.

Another interesting feature of this joke is its alliteration. With “snail,” “ship,” and “snailor” all beginning with the letter “s”, the joke is probably easier for children to remember, and it also has a nice ring to it. Additionally, all of the words (except “snailor”) are only one syllable, possibly contributing to the being more easily remembered among first-graders. The joke is also fairly short—a quick question, a quick answer. Since children’s attention spans are still growing at this age, a short joke fares better on the playground than does a longer one.

Game – United States of America

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Vancouver, WA
Performance Date: March 20, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish, German

Silent Ball

Silent ball is usually played in a classroom, I suppose. So anyone who wants to play sits up on the top of their desks and one person starts off with the ball and it can just be like…a tennis ball, or a wiffle ball, or whatever. And you also have a sound monitor person who basically judges whether or not someone has made a sound that uh that should I guess constitute them as “out” of the game. And it’s usually okay to laugh, um, I think. But if you talk, or do anything other than laughing or bodily functions like coughing or sneezing. So basically if you talk, you’re “out.” So, then, the person who starts out with the ball throws it to whoever they want in the classroom and you just keep throwing it around to different people and if the ball touches your desk or the floor, or if you just don’t catch it while it’s coming at you, then you have to sit down on your chair—not on your desk—because then that means that you’re “out.” And the goal is to be the last person sitting on your desk, or, sitting on a desk. And, um, I guess the sound monitor person also judges um, like, if the ball was thrown between two people that sound monitor person decides who is out. So it’s kind of the ultimate judge.

*Teachers can play, but generally don’t

Heidi first learned this game sometime during the later half of elementary school. It is usually played in the classroom during times when the teacher doesn’t have a lesson planned, or when there is a substitute teacher. Students probably start playing it during the later half of elementary school because their finer motor skills have developed a bit more—they’re able to throw the ball with some accuracy, and catch it as well.

Since the goal is to get people out, a person in possession of the ball could potentially “just chuck the ball at people.” Heidi says that, “if they miss it, too bad for them.” Methods for getting people “out” include, but are not limited to: throwing the ball very hard so that some people might not want to catch it; throwing the ball just out of reach of the person so that he or she cannot catch it; and throwing the ball towards a person without giving him or her very much notice. While these are all good methods, the players also need to keep in mind that these same strategies can be used against them when it comes time for them to catch the ball. One of the lessons of this game is to develop a strategy for winning that may include several of the above methods. However, the developed strategy must also account for the fact that others will try to sabotage your chances of winning. Since the students’ fine motor skills are more developed during the later elementary school years (ages 9-10) than during the early years (ages 5-6), it is easier for students to establish a strategy for throwing the ball to their opponents.

Utter, Brenda. Pick and Plan: 100 Brain-compatible Strategies for Lesson Design. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 2007.