Mouse and the Motorcycle

Remember reading the story by Beverly Cleary about a mouse and a motorcycle? Well, I do. And I was recently reminded of this series and more particularly the main character. Lately I have been staying a tad later in the classroom preparing for the next day and (week). How late?

Fine.

It was 6:45 last night before I finally grabbed my purse, turned off my classroom lights, and locked the door. On my way out I stopped by the teacher's AV (Audio Visual) room to pick up a document that I had printed. Now I have heard rumors of furry little creatures making themselves comfortable in other teachers' classrooms. I have let this slide seeing as they were no where near my classroom, and I have yet had to dispose of a fully loaded mouse trap.

So I was able to ignore this mouse population- until last night. I open the door to the AV room, flip on the light, and take three steps into the room to get the printed document. And let me tell you something...if there is one thing that makes me squeamish, it is mice. Don't ask me why. I have good reason. To have not squealed was an accomplishment. To stand calmly as the furry bugger ran across the room and into the corner was quite another thing. So to simply say that I saw a mouse at my school is not enough. Rather I was introduced to the nightly activities of the smaller animals living there.

I've met my Ralph. Sans his motorcycle unfortunately.

For those poor unfortunate souls who have yet to be introduced to these books...some excepts...

"Look, Ryan," he said. "I'm in trouble and I don't have time to tell you about it. Just take me and my motorcycle with you, and don't ask questions."

"To school?" Ryan was surprised.

Ralph's pesky cousins are wrecking his motorcycle, and his janitor friend, Matt, is in trouble because there seem to be mice in the hotel. All in all things are not going well at the Mountain View Inn. So Ralph persuades his young pal Ryan to take him to school. Ralph is an instant hit with Ryan's classmates. But he doesn't like being forced to run through a maze or the threat of an exterminator coming to the school. Worst of all, Ryan gets into a fight with a classmate, and Ralph's precious motorcycle is broken. Is Ralph S. Mouse smart enough to steer this sad situation to a happy ending?

So the 2008 - 2009 school year is officially under way. I have been thoroughly impressed with my students so far this year- and I can't believe how nice it is to teach the same grade for a second year in a row. I actually have a vision of where we are going and what I can expect from these kiddos! This year's class has 23 students: 13 guys and 10 gals. So far we seem to work well together and they know who is boss :)

The Recess Bell...obviously.

Today we were prepping for a test on our weather unit. For 2 weeks we have been conducting experiments that prove that 1) Air is a Substance and 2) Air is related to many weather phenomena. My favorite discussion is the one concerning clouds. Something that I did not recall from the material I learned in elementary school or for that matter high school. How about you? Can you name each cloud? Possible answers: cumulus cloud, cirrus cloud, fog, and stratus cloud. Bonus Question- which is the only cloud to touch the surface of the earth?

Anyway- to review the weather material, we played a version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" The kids thought it was 'so cool' and 'really cool' that we could listen to the 10 seconds of music every time we chose the correct answer. To be fair we had already written the homework down and packed our backpacks before we congregated on the carpet around my computer screen. So when my lil' Atokad* was sitting down, standing up, kneeling, leaning over to poke his neighbor to of course tell him something vital, standing back up and pacing to the other end of the room and back- was still partially listening to the questions (or music, to which one I am not sure...) and participating I was feeling somewhat effective by using the time to prep for the weather test. The majority of my students were riveted to what would happen after the next mouse click. We were nearly to the end of the game, when a semi-hush fell over the crowd...just in time for everyone to hear when Atokad pronounced with such enthusiasm-

"Holy Crap! We're almost to a million!"

...which of course is the whole point of the activity.