Andre the Canadian?

As part of the first-day-of-library activities I have been having all my classes make name cards. That way I can learn their names and if I ever need to assign them seats I can do it easily. Since I saw the last of my classes today (we start the second rotation tomorrow) my speech about the name cards had gotten pretty long. I've been learning along the way.

Their names have to be big enough and dark enough for me to read them.

They have to write the name they go by in class.

They can draw pictures, but the pictures need to be school-appropriate.

The pictures should not obscure their name.

Anyway, one of my students asked me today if he could go by "Andre" (shortened from "Andrew"). I have no problem with shortened versions of their names. I was just telling them to write down what their teacher calls them to avoid things like "Scooby-Doo" and "Bat Man." I wasn't going to object, but he apparently felt he needed to explain further because he said, "It's okay for me to go by Andre because I'm half Canadian."

I love working with kids.