12 Days of Christmas

Some days, I just can't help but break down into giggles while I'm grading my students' homework. Today was one of those days.

This week I've been teaching my students to sing the 12 Days of Christmas. After they've learned the song, their homework is to write their own 12 gifts to fit the melody of the song. So this morning I got back the first stack of homework and was delighted by some of the cute things they came up with.

Here are some of my favorites. These are funnier if you read them to the tune of the song.

12) twelve Ms. Gails (This kid's a prodigy.)
11) eleven delicious pockeys
10) ten rich uncles (Like I said...clearly, this kid's a prodigy!)
9) nine lunch boxes
8) eight rice balls
7) seven cheeze cakes
6) six note books
5) five golden carenders
4) four lovery snowmans
3) three yellow stars
2) two Christmas trees
1) a cat and a mouse

12) twelve presents for Santa-san (The Japanese add "san" to the end of other people's names as a sign of respect... I just find it so cute that this kid added it to Santa.)
11) eleven soccer players
10) ten singing children
9) nine baseball players
8) eight dancing octopus
7) seven lucky children
6) six Kentakky chickens (This is my favorite line of all.)
5) five beautiful Santa-san
4) four baby crying
3) three little pigs
2) two Tonakais (Apparently, this is a reindeer...)
1) a Big Cake we made

And then, there's this one... from the kid who apparently is in training to be a Japanese gangsta (what they call "Yakuza" 'round these parts).

12) twelve white castles (In case you're wondering, no they don't have White Castle here.)
11) eleven beautiful pictures
10) ten silver dishs
9) nine strange sweets
8) eight cooll cars
7) seven Nike bags
6) six good sox
5) five golden teeth (Awesome.)
4) four fighting dogs
3) three good clothes
2) two hand ball shoes
1) a book and a book mark (I guess I can't say this fits the Yakuza theme, so maybe there's hope for this one.)

I also enjoyed songs that included the lyrics "eight Hawaiian ukuleles," "four fried cartilages," and "nine twinkle trees."

Awww! I love my students.