Of Pack Rats and Rat Skulls

POP QUIZ:

What do all of these items have in common?

1. 1 bag of googly eyes
2. A guitar
3. A dented mailbox
4. 4-6 fish tanks
5. 1 dead octopus floating in formaldehyde
6. Several partially used boxes of elbow macaroni
7. A Be-Dazzler
8. A bag full of plastic Pokemon characters
9. A rubber chicken
10. A clothesline
11. An ice cream maker
12. 17 empty shoe boxes
13. A container of empty toilet paper rolls
14. A circa 1971 Jackson 5 poster 
15. A snakeskin 

Give up?

They can all be found in our class' Teachers' Supply Closet. I know, it's a bit disturbing. You actually need a helmet to enter this closet. Merely opening the door can cause an avalanche of school supplies and science materials.  I've had to dig Ms. Erin out of the wreckage so many times that I finally had her sign a waver fully exonerating me should she emerge with a pan balance and fraction cubes lodged in her skull. But there is beauty in this chaos. The ability to pull out the most random materials at the perfect time makes my out of control hording almost worth it.

Case in point:

Meet Larry the Body.

Larry has been with me for years. For a while he lived in my son's bedroom, until the boy ended up in my bed sobbing one night because he was sure he'd seen Larry's eye wink at him in the moonlight. I figured I'd decrease future therapy bills by moving Larry to a new home in, you guessed it, The Teachers' Supply Closet. And there he rested until Erin and I pulled him out for show and tell this week. As always, he generated a lot of excitement. The kids quickly pulled out his organs and used a magnetic puzzle to try to identify them. We talked about the different organs and systems of the body. Interestingly, the students were insistent that only boys have kidneys. It took us a few minutes to figure out that they were confusing kidneys with some other boy parts that are also found in pairs, if you get my drift. They also let me know in no uncertain terms that Larry was actually a Loretta, due to his missing, ahem, parts (no, once again, NOT kidneys).

The kids were especially curious about the digestive system. No big surprise, as poop and pee are highly entertaining to the elementary school set. And since it was right before lunch, what better time to talk about it? We watched a quick movie about the digestive system, and then got to eating and read aloud time.

We have been reading aloud one of my favorites, "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary.

In the chapter we read that day, we learned about the sad fate of Ralph the Mouse's Uncle Leroy. Uncle Leroy vanished without a trace...until his bones turned up in an owl pellet.

"What's an owl pellet?" the kids wanted to know. I explained that when owls eat their food, they digest the soft parts (meat), but feathers, fur and bones are indigestible to most owls. The owls regurgitate these parts in the form of a "pellet". Yep, they throw it up.

 The kids gasped in horror, "EWWWW!!!"

 Ms. Erin, who is eating lunch on the other side of the room, overhears this and says, "We have owl pellets."

"We DO?" I had no idea.

Sure enough, the magical realm of The Teachers' Supply Closet was home to 10 owl pellets. I tell you, all this time and I had no clue they were there. Seriously, how can someone not know they have owl vomit and rat bones in their closet?

Apparently, Erin and former Hirsch teacher Ms. Tara had dissected them years ago, and they had been stuffed up in a corner, just waiting for the right moment.

Most of the students were super excited, if a little freaked out.  One sweet boy told me I was crazy, because there was NO WAY he was going to dig rat bones out of a wad of owl puke. Well, he didn't say it quite so crudely, but you get the gist. So we started slowly, with a "virtual" dissection. Here is the web site:

http://www.kidwings.com/owlpellets/flash/v4/index.htm

How cool is that?!?

Now check out the pictures from the real dissection on Thursday. The excitement in the room was at an all time high as we pulled out and identified rat skeletons from our pellets. Gross? Yes. Totally, awesomely gross. But educational.

Gabriel digs in

An intact pellet and a bone

Skull!!

Max's boneyard

Can you identify this body part?

Dem bones

Claw or jaw?

Tibia or fibula?

Mad scientist

Yes, your children will come home with a bag of rat femurs. Yes, they are disgusting.  You may be cursing us now, but you'll thank us when your child graduates from medical school.


 The Teachers' Supply Closet also gifted us with Legos this week for our fraction lesson. Check it out:

How many different ways can you make 1 whole?  2/8+1/4+1/2=1 whole!

So, yeah, there are some pretty awesome treasure to be found in The Teachers' Supply Closet. But all of the goodies in closet are no match for the goodness and pure hearts of our students.
 We reflected on the deeds and words of Dr. Martin Luther King at the end of the week. The students were asked to write a personal narrative telling about their dreams for the world. Here are a couple that I filmed:


Zoe's Dream:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXIwIjrbuh0


Bo's Dream:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wBGZGbbFyw

Gabriel's Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O1nufWilAc


Tani's Dream:

I think people should not drink beer. People should not because it makes them drive crazy and go to jail. I think people should not go on Ferris wheels if they are afraid of heights. They will freak and they will scream.

Max's Dream:

People's manners need to change. Because it's not polite and it's not nice. It can also disturb others the way we talk and eat and movement has to be polite. People need to be fair in games.


Annabella's Poem:

PEACE
Peace is like a prayer
Peace looks like a rainbow
It sounds like birds singing, and
it can be calming, but peace is always a good thing.


Have a wonderful and peaceful long weekend!