Miss Wells, what's a ...?

The past 3 weeks of work were quite interesting. (Those of you reading this that knew me in high school or college will get a kick out of this.)

As most of you know, I teach 7th grade science. Two weeks ago my class was learning about invertebrates and we did a squid dissection as a part of that unit. Well, kids were asking me what this part was by the top of the head. I told them very non-chalantly that it was the gonads. Then, the question I dreaded the entire unit came from almost every group, "What's a gonad?" So, I got to talk about the facts of life. Lucky me.

We got to the point of learning about amphibians, which means we did a frog dissection. To prepare for the dissection I had them color worksheets that showed the internal organs, so when it came time to dissect they would know where to find them. Here came another opportunity to teach the facts of life. "Miss Wells, what's a testis?" (I wish you could hear how they pronounced it- just like it's written.)

I replied, "Depending on whether you're a girl or boy, you'll have either 2 testis or 2 ovaries." You could see the light bulbs coming on over their heads. And then they'd get embarassed. It was so funny.

My plea to all of you parents; please teach your children the proper names of body parts and what they do. I'm teaching junior high kids what an esophagus and trachea are along with the above mentioned things.

Sometimes people think that only little kids say the darndest things, but 7th graders make me
laugh every day.

Christmas 2006

I had the pleasure of having 3 different Christmases. The first one was on the 21st with my brother's family and my parents. It was a great night. Caden is always funny to be around.

The next morning my parents and I had our own little Christmas. The 23rd my parents and I went to Detroit to spend Christmas morning with my sister and her family. We spent 6 days of singing karaoke, playing countless games, and lots of food. DJ and Joey were so funny opening their presents. After every single present (no matter how little it was) DJ made Kendra take a picture. And if she didn't have her camera ready when he finished opening the package, he'd say, "Mom" with a roll of his eyes. And then smile big and say, "Cheese". Joey did the picture thing to an extent, but truly didn't care...it was just about copying his big brother. He would just get soooo excited that a quick, loud shriek would come out in a high-pitched, 4-year-old's voice. Then, on the really cool presents (like his batman underwear or his spiderman pajamas) he'd say, "Wow" in a loud whisper. Seriously, he made Kendra open and look at his batman underwear for at least 5 minutes.


When we got back home I was remembering what a special time Navidad is in Honduras and I was getting nostalgic. So I decided to create a ministry..."Abrigado con Amor" which literally means "Wrapped with Love". I am making blankets for the summer mission trips to hand out this summer in a community is so poor that even Hondurans don't go there and in the university hospital that those without insurance go to. It is an unbelievable place. I could try to describe it to you, but nothing can replace experiencing it in person.



Here is Karino with her Christmas present.