when first graders make their own rules

The first graders learned about laws and leaders in social studies this week. We went through a simple PowerPoint (which everyone here calls by its file extension--ppt--instead). They did a simple fill-in-the-blank worksheet and then got a blank piece of paper. The assignment: if you had your own community, what would your laws be?

Here are some of my favorites from class:

This is Anna. Not only did she rock the neon colors for her community law signs, her laws include: Don't trash banana! and No kite in this city. Don't know the specific reason as to why she has something against kites.

Little Jerry Ma. He is a miniature and extremely polite human being. He loves to be as fashionable as Mr. Anthony, his expat homeroom teacher. His laws are all about cars, like where they can park and what kind of cars go where. He has a solid future in city planning if he so desires it. 

Ah, Ben. He has grown so much during the semester. He was so excited to come to my desk and show me his laws, which I don't completely understand, but they're great anyway. The sign he drew says "next the --> because its raining" and has a picture of an umbrella with a book. 

This is Xavier. He is a hoot and a half. He did three levels of laws, starting from the bottom of the page up. My favorite is the top law: "stop go truck". 

Alex is one of those boys that loves to be helpful and tries to be on his best behavior, but he gets distracted. He is a sweet one. He drew a ton of signs, which merited a picture because he goes and beyond anything I assign on a regular basis. The law says that you can build a tree house. I support that and would vote for it in an instant. 

Sean, oh Sean. On the far right, he drew a flower sign that says "don't Mary". When he told me, he had such a mischievous grin on his face. It's nice that he made my name a verb, but I have no idea what it means. 

Joanna! She is great. She also wrote "don't Mary" and then crossed it out on the sign, so the double negative means to Mary? Maybe? Another law says "no boats in the house".

Angela, bless her. I told her to smile big and look at me...at least I got one of the two. Her law? "Don't eat ice cream hear".

Regis. He's one of my favorites, even though he blinked in every picture I took. He loves GI Joe and dinosaurs. His law says "no jumping today". 

And Ray! I love a kid who says that the speed limit can be 120 kph and something about no hamburgers? Don't really get it, but I love it.

It is definitely a hoot and I am very much enjoying how excited they get when I start taking pictures. They'll run up to me, calling out "Ms. Mary! Ms. Mary! Look, look!" It's great. I'm getting some solid hugs, too, which always serves to brighten up a day.