2nd Graders

A couple of weeks ago I substituted for my sister-in-law Lisa's 2nd grade class. One of the assignments she left for the kids to do was some math worksheets. They were learning about double and triple digit numbers and place value (ones, tens, and hundredths). One section of one of the worksheets had three questions that asked what number came before or after a number or what came between two numbers.  i.e. What number comes after 300? What number comes before 669? What number comes between 430 and 432? The fourth question of that section asked them to make up a number and write a riddle (using this word was probably confusing) with the words "before," "after," or "between," just like in the previous examples.
Lisa instructed me to have the kids bring their work to me to check and for me to send them back to their seat to correct any problems that they missed. It was Friday, we were nearing the end of the day, and the kids had been pretty wound up all day. So there I was trying to focus on checking their work as they lined up at my desk, while also trying to maintain some control while the rest of them were bouncing off the walls. Things were a little harried to say the least.

One boy in particular I had sent back to fix some of the problems, and when he brought it back to me to re-check, this is what I read for question #4: Directions: Make up a number and write a riddle about it using the words "before," "after," or between." Answer: "What did the cow say to the hen?" I couldn't read the answer, but it had something to do with "beff" (beef).

I couldn't keep a straight face.