Bot's Sense of Math

I don't know how we got on the topic, but Bot told me how he and Cory had been talking about the time when Bot was in second grade and the school was rehearsing for the big Christmas concert. They were singing the Allelujah Chorus or whatever and Bot was basically not singing much at all, basically giving a half-hearted "Ah" once in a while, and since he was standing right by his teacher she caught on and instructed him during a pause between run-throughs, "Richard, you have to SING."

So Bot promptly burst out by himself, "AHHH! Lay LEW. YAH! AHHH! Lay-lew. YAH!" I pointed out that clearly his problem was not fear of having his singing heard if he could do that solo in front of everyone, and asked if Mrs. C had laughed at him. He said no, she had given him the "One more time and I'm giving you a white slip!" warning--and rightly so, given that this was a full-primary-department rehearsal and some maintaining of order was necessary.

But Cory had pointed out that if Mrs. K had heard that, she would have been rolling on the floor, which got us talking about when he DID get Mrs. K to laugh.

Mrs. K was Cory and then Bot's third grade teacher, and she was THE teacher at Aquinas--she was funny, unpredictable, enthusiastic, demanding, motivating, respected and VERY well-loved. And she passed away last year part-way through Bot's year with her, so the kids are still fond of reminiscing about her.

He began telling me a story about a time when she was doing her "Sister Jeannette" thing (her first name was Jeannette) in which she acted like a stereotypical old-fashioned nun, smacking her ruler on her desk and barking out multiplication facts, expecting immediate answers.

So when she smacked her ruler down and barked, "Seven time nine IS?"

Bot responded immediately, "Y plus 26!" and she howled.