Mr. Lee’s Corner is a collection of cute, funny, and unexpected stories written by Wonder Club Kindergarten Teacher Mr. Lee!
September 2022
By Lee Bradley
September 28th, 2022
A picture is worth a thousand words…
Spelling Gone Wrong
By Lee Bradley
September 28th, 2022
I hear the voice of my friend, Charles W. Lyons, when we would encounter various situations and he would shake his head and tell me, “You couldn’t make this stuff up.”
I encourage my students to look at posters or books if they are not sure how to spell a word. Some of them still do not understand that you cannot copy a random word and have it mean whatever you want.
Yesterday we were making Mother’s Day cards and I was admiring their creativity when I noticed one boy had an animal book in front of him. He told me that he wanted to write “You are a great mom”, but had to look up “great mom”.
He was writing, “You are a fat lizard.”
I have been imagining the phone call that I would have gotten if that went home…
It seemed like a good idea at the time…
By Lee Bradley
September 28th, 2022
Another teacher and I decided it would be fun to have a relay race, so we got two large buckets of water, two cups and two small containers. The students filled a cup with water, ran to the small container and dumped it in before passing it to a classmate.
Afterwards everyone gathered around the containers to see who won. I declared it a tie and in a moment of inspiration, I picked up the containers and threw the water high into the air sending a small shower of water over the students. Delighted screams followed.
Almost immediately I realized my first mistake – the two unattended large buckets of water. Apparently the students had the same thought. As I ran toward the buckets I realized my second mistake – the kids had already picked up the buckets and were waiting for me.
I got soaked (the selfie does not show the half of it).
While I enjoy my weekends, I almost always am happy when Monday comes around again and I get to return my class.
My colleague tried to help me by telling them to put the water down but she was laughing so hard that they could not understand what she was saying.
August 2022
Best Moment
By Lee Bradley
August 25th, 2022
What was your best moment of the day?
Mine was when one of my kindergarten girls unexpectedly came up to me, gave me a hug and said, “Mr. Lee, you brighten my day.”
Never underestimate the power of encouragement even from the littlest ones.
Delightfully Baffled
By Lee Bradley
August 25th, 2022
Working with young children often leaves me delightfully baffled.
The other day we were working on a project and a little girl came up to me and declared, “Mr. Lee, I do not like dolphins.” The project we were working on had nothing to do with dolphins, sea life, or even animals in general.
Me: “OK”
Student [with a bit of a frown]: “I also don’t like horses or mermaids.”
Me [confused but intrigued]: “It sounds like you don’t like a lot of things. What is something that you do like?”
Student [with furrowed brow and deep concentration]: “I like chocolate milk.”
She then happily returned to her seat and got back to work, leaving me confused but really wanting a glass of chocolate milk.
July 2022
When the student, teaches the teacher.
By Lee Bradley
July 7th, 2022
One of my students, a strong-willed little girl, came to me at the end of the day visibly distraught.
Girl: “Mr. Lee, I was mean to [a strong-willed girl in another class]”
Me: “OK. Do you need to apologize?”
G [in a quiet, sad voice]: “Yes”
I took her to the other classroom, explained the situation, and the teacher brought the second girl out so they could talk.
G: “I was mean to you. You told me to stop, but I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
Second Girl [shocked and clearly uncomfortable]: “Oh, OK. I’m sorry too.”
G: “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I was wrong and I’m sorry.”
As we walked back to our room, G had a bounce in her step that was not there before, but there was a teacher walking with her that was barely holding back tears.
Some days it truly is the student that teaches the teacher.
Hide and Seek Gone Wrong
By Lee Bradley
July 7th, 2022
Today at recess I saw a little girl standing by herself looking very sad.
Me: “Is something wrong?”
Girl: “I am playing hide and seek with my friends, but every time I start counting they run away and hide.”
Me: “Uh…..”
At this point the friends return to see why she is sad and she explains it to them.
One of the girls very kindly told her, “That is how you play the game.”
She immediately brightened up and said, “Oh!” and all was good.
I’ve been thinking about this all day. I can’t help but wonder how many times I am upset or offended and all I really need is someone to kindly point out that I don’t have all of the information.
May 2022
A Bible Verse for Any Age
By Lee Bradley
May 17th, 2022
This is the current verse my class is learning. It is humbling to reflect upon the truth that this wisdom is for five-year-olds as well as 50-year-olds. Be friendly to everyone, but choose your friends carefully. (Proverbs 12:26)
Be sure to enunciate!
By Lee Bradley
May 17th, 2022
I was reminded of how important it is to enunciate clearly when speaking to my students.
Our school meets in a church building and we try to teach the children to be respectful of that. I have specifically spoken to them about not being loud or silly as we walk through areas where the congregation worships.
As I was leading a group of students into the building, one little girl warned me, “Mr. Lee, we need to be quiet now. This is the cemetery.”
I appreciated her taking my earlier instruction to heart, and did my best to not laugh as I assured her it was “the sanctuary”, not “the cemetery”.
A Bit Buggy
By Lee Bradley
May 17th, 2022
Our class went a bit “buggy” this week as we finished up our “I love bugs!” unit.
We have handcrafted grasshopper hats that were fun to make and wear!
March 2022
Just a Little Encouragement
By Lee Bradley
March 22, 2022
Yesterday my class had a page with a few pictures to color, but one little boy was not moving. I asked him to get started a few times, but he would not even get a crayon out or respond to me in any way. I was getting a bit frustrated with his defiance when he mumbled, “I can’t even color in the lines.”
I told him that I would help him. I didn’t actually help much other than encourage him to go slowly, which he did, and his first picture turned out pretty good. The time ended for the project and he asked if he could work on it later. When he finished, I asked him if he would like to take it home (like everyone else) or hang it up. He smiled and said he wanted to hang it up. Instead of finding a spot in the room like I expected, he walked into the hallway and hung it where everyone could see it.
I am thankful that God allowed me to see that the defiance that I was sure was in this little guy was actually shame that was able to be turned into something to be proud of.
Copying My Bad Choice
By Lee Bradley
March 22, 2022
Have you ever wanted to get someone in trouble so badly that you were willing to indict yourself?
I walked up to a class that was waiting in line and I could see that one little boy was very irritated with a second boy. He turned to me and said, “Mr. Lee, he is copying my bad choice. My teacher said that when someone is making a bad choice, we shouldn’t copy it, but he is copying my bad choice!”
February 2022
What should I be when I grow up?
By Lee Bradley
February 11, 2022
One of my students approached me yesterday with a bothered look on his face.
Student: “Mr. Lee, I wanted to be a teacher when I grow up, but now I think I might want to be a ninja.”
Me [trying to respect the seriousness of how deeply he was thinking]: “Well, being a teacher is great, but if you have a chance to become a ninja, I’d go with that.”
Student [a big smile bursting across his face and then walking away]: “Yeah…!”
I wonder where I would be today if I had such great career advice when I was in kindergarten! 🙂
Art Project
By Lee Bradley
February 11, 2022
Sometimes it is the simplest messages that mean the most. 🙂
Meet the newest member of our class – Obadiah the Octopus.
By Lee Bradley
February 11, 2022
Meet the newest member of our class – Obadiah the Octopus.
I showed him to the class and explained that he would be sitting on my desk as a paperweight, but he is not a toy. The students immediately asked if they could pet him sometimes. I said yes, and we all had a good laugh.
Later in the day one little girl, who is usually very bold, came up to me and rather timidly asked in a quiet voice, “Mr. Lee, can I give Obadiah a hug?”. I could see that she was very serious, so I said, “Sure”.
If you have never seen a five-year-old give a genuine hug to a cast iron octopus, you are really missing out.
Thoughts on Parenting
By Lee Bradley
February 11, 2022
My students worked on a project where they got to choose what they wanted to be when they grow up. One little boy immediately told me, “I want to be a dad.”
I was happy to hear him say that and told him that was a good choice. Then he filled out the writing section “When I grow up I want to be a dad because…I like to sleep.”
