What the heck do "criss-cross" and "applesauce" have to do with each other?

Yep, these are the pressing thoughts on my mind lately... but seriously, who came up with the "criss-cross applesauce" idea for having kids sit down crossing their legs? Yes, I understand the "criss-cross" thing, but it seems that someone was just desperate for something cutesy and rhyming. I suppose "applesauce" is a far superior rhyme to "criss-cross" than "I'm your boss" (albeit accurate for a teacher in a kindergarten room). After googling it, it's apparent that useful words that rhyme with "cross" are lacking. To me it makes more sense to describe what your legs look like while sitting instead of making a senseless rhyme, which is why I'm using the term "pretzel legs" in my classroom.

So my first two days of teaching are done and over, and somehow I've managed to survive. I do have a few challenging little goofballs in my classroom. My group of little peanuts are definitely challenged in the area of listening and following directions. I came up with a fabulous idea in my epiphany bathtub tonight. If Jelly Bellys work to potty train my kids, why wouldn't they work in quiet training my classroom??? I'm going to try the good behavior jar. When I see good behavior occurring - specifically using working voices and staying on-task - I will add a Jelly Belly to a jar. Once the jar is filled with good behavior, the sweets will be divvied up for all of us to enjoy. It might just be worth it. We shall see, it's worth a shot. And if nothing else, I will have a stash of Jelly Bellys to snack on whilst my lovely crew are driving me nuts and misbehaving. :)