Surrounded by a sea of smiling faces

Did you know: The word "smiles" is the longest word in the dictionary.

Yep. That's because there's a "mile" between the first and last "s!" Hahaha. :)

Ok, so maybe you didn't know that...but I'm sure you know that smiles are very contagious. Seriously. I get anywhere near a bunch of giggling, grinning students, and I have the "smile bug" for the rest of the day!

All smiles and peace signs in a 5th grade classroom at Kuji Elementary School.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been exposing my visitors to some breeding grounds of the "smile bug" -- elementary schools!
(We've also been to my junior high schools together, but those students are not usually as "dangerous" as the super duper smiley gradeschool kids.)

Check out these cutie pies from the second grade class at Ube E.S. last week...

You're smiling right now, aren't you? I'm telling ya...highly contagious! You don't even have to come into direct physical contact with them, and they've gotcha.
Photo credit: Jennifer (She gets the credit for about all of these, actually.)

They're so interested in English, and I love it! Why wouldn't they be when English class is all about games and songs!?

Third graders at Ube E.S. singing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

Do your BEST. (I wonder if BEST is a coincidence. I'm guessing that it is.) Notice that the third one down is "Smile." The students are trained to be the way they are! :)

Some genki girls ("genki" means "fine" or "outgoing") at Osanai E.S. during recess.

Yesterday, the gals and I went to Taiyama E.S., a school that is extremely infected by the "smile bug." I taught all six grades, so it was a long day -- but a happy one. :)

A cute shot of Jennifer and Precious. (I don't know what her name is, but Precious sounds good.) Jennifer is a first grade teacher in Franklin, so I'm really glad she's been able to sit in on/help during a few first grade classes while in Kuji. Sidenote: Notice some of the complicated kanji in the background that the second graders are learning. Yipes!

At Taiyama E.S., we taught the students some answers to the question, "How are you?" (I've become very familiar with this lesson since I taught it six times in a row at Kuji E.S.!) For each response, we do a gesture with it. For example: "I'm hungry." *rubbing tummy* "I'm sleepy." *yawn and stretch*

In this picture, we're all doing the gesture to the response, "I'm HAPPY!!" (Notice the illustration I'm holding up.)

Go figure, right? :)