C-U-P-C-A-K-E S-T-U-P-O-R

Today my after school club met for the second time. "The spellsters" (lame name, i know. But could there be a cool name for a spelling club? --> suggestions welcome)

I flipped when I saw that I had 27 kids signed up for the club-- ranging from kindergarten to 8th grade. Yikes. How do you engage that kind of age range? Serious center work would have to be involved. And what kind of words can kindergartners spell anyways? Do they even know the alphabet? I decided to wing it this week; assess the situation and then go from there.

Thankfully, only 10 showed up today. 3 kindergartners, 3 1st graders, a 3rd grader, and a 5th grader.  Between my cupcake-lunch and exhausting day, I was fighting the effects of a serious sugar crash. In said stupor I tried to decipher the names of two 1st graders, Amadu Jalloh and Bailor Jalloh. That took about 5 minutes because of their thick (albeit adorable) accents. I then turned to their kindergarten cousin: "And what's your name, dear?"

"[indecipherable cuteness]"

"Can you spell it for me, please?" [dry erase marker rapidly drying out]

He stares at me blankly and Bailor chimes in: "Oh no, I'll spell it for you. He doesn't know how to spell his name."

I laugh out loud. Of course he doesn't.