Kids Report the Darnedest Things

As I said a week ago, I gave my beginners whom I'd teach today--Beethoven's birthday--a short assignment to find out who he was and tell me a little bit about him. As expected, some of their answers were quite amusing (my questions in italics, their responses below):

So what did you find out about Beethoven?

• "He was a music writer who played the piano and wrote a lot of songs." (Would he be insulted to have one of his symphonies called a "song"?)


• "I forgot to look it up, but I know that he wrote a lot of awesome music." (At least the kid was honest.)


• "He was known for producing a lot of musicals." (I can see it now: BEETHOVEN ON BROADWAY!!)

What was unique about him in the last several years of his life?

• "He was grumpy."


• "He was weird-looking."


• And one kid did nail the part about him being deaf.

Where was he from?

• "Somewhere in Europe. Not France...Not England, because that's a city." (Me: It is?) No, wait...London is a city, England is a country. Man! And I just came from Social Studies, too."

Happy Beethoven's birthday to you! And I hope you caught today's edition of Peanuts, where Schroeder gets a Beethoven's birthday cake brought to him by Linus and Lucy.

Have an ice day: What crazy weather we're having in North Texas at the moment! Even though school was in, it was hard to get around anywhere, and cocooning ensued for a second straight night. I feel for the folks who had to go on freeways today (I didn't), but the most hazardous place I visited was a Super Target parking lot, where the ice sheets were masquerading as clear concrete. We were all doddering around like old-timers to get anywhere.