april eighteen

Mouse Fiasco Story

I got to school on Wednesday morning and I was going through my normal morning routine working on the computer and writing on the board. My mentor teacher was in the classroom talking with the speech teacher when all of a sudden I heard her squeal. Apparently a mouse had crawled across the classroom and was hiding under her desk. After calling the janitor and causing all of the students to get hyped up over our new visitor, we settled down and decided to just ignore it. As I was working at the front computer, the student nearest me says. "Ms. Sapera! I just saw the mouse! It is under the computer cart." I half didn't believe him but after him saying over and over again that he wasn't kidding, I slowly retreated from where I was standing. Sure enough, I bent over and looked under the cart and there it was- a little baby field mouse. Right when we went to step toward it, it jetted across toward the door and out into the hall. In an instant, it crawled across the hall, under the door and into the classroom across from us. We didn't have the heart to tell our neighbor teacher that there was now a mouse in her room. Instead we just said we saw it crawl out into the hall and it could be in any room. For the rest of the day we set up a makeshift trap inside of our room so that even if the mouse came in the door, it wouldn't have anywhere to go. The students enjoyed the suspense of whether or not it was going to come back. I enjoyed that it was no longer a possibility of it running across my foot while I was teaching. Later that day, when the janitors were sweeping the trash out of the hallway we found a half eaten, double stack, bacon cheeseburger. I assume this is what it was after.

The mousetrap we created. At least if he came in, he wouldn't have far to go.

Rice Babies

After days and days of asking, my students finally got to take home their rice babies. I wish we could have done more with them (weight and fractions activities) but every since the mouse fiasco in our classroom, we decided it was probably best to get rid of all of the rice.

Most of the students' rice babies turned out absolutely adorably. I couldn't help but take all of their pictures. I hope their parents get a kick out of how precious they are. Watching and listening to them as I made them carry them outside and to the bus, I think they have a new-found appreciation for their mothers carrying them around for 9 months.

Only twelve more days left with these little cuties. I warned them today and it was heartwarming to see that they were just as upset about it as I was.