On the tenth day of 3rd grade my teacher said to me,

Identify the sentence subject!
Let's make Egyptian costumes!
Where is Ivan?
Memorize your verse!
Study your spelling!
Did you read?
Don't stick your finger in the socket!
What is a digit?
Be respectful and act responsibly!

The kingdom can rejoice -- our dashing Knight in Clanky Armor is back -- Ivan the Terrible! He wasn't his vivacious and naughty self, though. In the morning he was a little out of it. I think he picked up by the end of the day. He did have a cough and used it as a way to cause havoc in the classroom by having a coughing contest with Prince Ants-in-the-Pants from the Land of Hyperactivity (the peasants formerly knew him as Prince Charming). By the way, Princess Talks-A-Lot still lives up to her name, but she has toned down considerably on her number of comments that she used to interject within every fraction of silence that she could find. She really is a nice kid -- painfully slow to do her work, but pretty smart, fairly insightful, and always does her work cheerfully... unlike SOME people. The Duchess Whines-Too-Much has been driving me crazy with her complaining about every bit of work she gets. She pretends to not enjoy anything, even if she really does like it. She was whining about her Egyptian dress even though I knew she really liked it because she kept smiling... while whining. She whines about her heritage class, the fact that she doesn't get to change her desk yet, the partner she gets in group work, the time frame allotted for assignments, and basically everything else she can think of. I think I'll teach her a song! "Are you humbly grateful? Or grumbly hateful? What's your attitude? Do you grumble and moan or let it be known you're grateful for all God's done for you?"

In prayer time today, one of the kids prayed for everyone's "Hurtness and sickness." I almost laughed. Then later, our Resident Hypochondriac (who always has a story to go with his every ache and pain that he wants to pray for -- his neck, his elbow, his cheek, his leg...) raised his hand when I asked "What do you call growing in what you know in your mind?" during Bible class and announced, "Internationally!" What a good MK. I said, "You mean intellectually..." and smirked. He's a gem. I like him a lot.

Tomorrow we finish our Egyptian costumes. I don't know what I'm going to do with the Duke of Earl-y To Finish because he rushes through everything like it's one big race and does a messy job. I think I'll make him go back and add more detail and make it look neater.