Miss Pat Didn’t Let the “Can Dos” Finish Reading

October 11th, 2017

PatTeacher Pat gathered the “Can Do” Kids around her for story time and asked “Class, what story shall we read today?”

Willie raised his hand. “Yes Willie,” said Teacher Pat. I’d like to read a Halloween story from the book my grandma gave me,” said Willie.

“Willie, you will need to pass the book around so the rest of the class can each read a little from your book,” said Miss Pat. “That’s fine  with me Miss Pat,” said Willie.Pat

“The name of my book is the Pumpkin Patch,” shared Willie. He began to read, “Long ago a farmer had a pumpkin patch, with rows and rows of bright orange pumpkins. There must have been a hundred of them.”

“Willie, time to pass the book to your right and let Wendy read a few lines,” said Teacher Pat. Wendy began to read, “The farmer promised the children of the town they could each pick out a pumpkin for Halloween to carve with their families and put in their living room windows.”

“It’s Arthur J’s  turn Wendy,” said Teacher Pat.

Arthur J began to read,”The f-f-f-farmer told the ch-ch-ch-children that the p-p-p-p-pumpkins were almost ready to p-p-p-pick.'”

Arthur J stopped reading because some of his classmates were laughing at him.

Miss Pat said, “Thank you Arthur J. Please return the book to Willie. Story time is over for today.”

Questions:

Do you know why Miss Pat ended story time when she did?

Why were some of the kids laughing at Arthur J?

What do you think about them laughing?

What would you have done?

Pocket

Orrie is the Quiz Kid!

October 5th, 2017

It was a rainy, cold Monday and the “Can Do” Kids  were just sitting in their seats looking bored when Miss Pat announced, “Time for a quiz!”

Hector groaned, Bobby rolled his eyes, Eulyn looked nervous and Kathy said out loud, “I hate when we have a quiz!”

Miss Pat said, “Hate is a strong word, Kathy, and not a nice one. How about saying I really don’t like having to take a quiz.”

Miss Pat began to hand out clickers and said, “It is going to be an oral quiz, a game with teams. Tables one and three will complete against tables two and four. Tables one and three are the blue team and tables two and four are the green team. When you think you know the answer click your clicker. Whoever clicks first gets to answer first. If it is the right answer the team gets a point. Whoever gets 20 points first wins the game.

image of Orrie. the quiz kid in his wheel chair“No fair,” said Hector. “Orrie is the smartest kid in the class and he is on the green team. The blue team can’t win against the green team as long as Orrie is on the green team.” The rest of the class just looked at Miss Pat, wondering how she would solve this problem. How could she make it a fair quiz? Would she keep Orrie out of the quiz? That wouldn’t be fair to Orrie.

Miss Pat thought a minute and said,”Let’s ask Orrie what he thinks is fair.” Orrie cleared his throat and said, “How about I play for the blue team for half the quiz and then play for the green team for the second half of the quiz.?”

The class all clapped and Orrie smiled. It wasn’t so often that he got to be an important part of a team with his classmates. At the rec center he was a member of the chess team and the junior scrabble team, but here, in class, with his friends, well, it was really neat to be wanted on both teams!

The quiz was about nutrition.

There were questions about fruits and vegetables and what you could make with them. Some of the questions were hard, all the “Can Do’s” participated and with Orrie’s help, the teams were tied. Then they went into overtime and the blue team won!

Later, Bobby was sitting with Orrie at recess and he said, “You were great in the quiz! How did you get to be so smart?” Orrie smiled and said, “Bobby, it is not that I am so smart, I just like to learn and I spend lots of time researching things on the computer that interest me. I read a lot and that’s why I am a quiz kid.”

Pocket

The Right Way to Get Attention in Class

September 29th, 2017

attentionMaria and Eulyn were always yelling out answers to get attention in homeroom and in computer class. So, Miss Pat decided to review the right way to get attention in class.

Miss Pat asked the class what was their favorite breakfast. All of a sudden it wasn’t just Maria and Eulyn that were yelling out answers; Bobby, Jay, Willie and Kathy also were yelling out as well! There was so much noise that Miss Pat couldn’t hear what anyone was saying,

“OK, quiet down children,” said Miss Pat. “That really didn’t work did it?” That is why in class, when we want to ask a question or answer a question or get the teacher’s attention for other reasons, we must first raise our hand. Then when the teacher sees your hand up she will point to you or call your name or both. Then you can speak.”

Them Miss Pat asked the question again, just to see what the class would do. “What is your favorite breakfast food? Eulyn attentionstarted to shout out, but caught herself and raised her hand. The rest of the class all raised their hands.

“Good job,” said Miss Pat.”That’s the right way to get attention in class.” Then she called on Eulyn to hear about Eulyn’s favorite breakfast. Then she gave everyone in class the chance to talk about their favorite breakfasts.

Guess what was the most popular breakfast….toast and jam and chocolate milk!

Remember boys and girls there is a right way and a wrong way to get attention.

Pocket

The Bobbin Girls

September 21st, 2017

Yundi and Nellie ran towards Coach Campbell yelling, “Hey Coach!” Coach answered, “Hey – What’s up? How is everybody?” “Good Coach, said Yundi. “Yeah,good. Visit any more mines Coach?”

“Ha, ha – no, no – I am not going back down in those mines again,” said Coach. Nellie nodded her head and said, “Yeah, that was not a place I would want to go. So dark, and dirty. Scary.”

“Sure is,” shared Coach, “Coal mining is a dangerous job.”

Nellie asked,“Hey Coach, remember you said you would tell us about what the young girls did for work?”

“Sure do,” answered Coach. “They were nicknamed Bobbin Girls, and they worked at the local textile mill. They were called Bobbin Girls because their main job was to work with the bobbins of cotton thread.

image of thread bobbins

 

 

Bobbin Girls working in textile mill

The Bobbin Girls would run back and forth with the bobbins of thread to keep the looms working. The loom machines wove the threads together to make fabric for clothing.”

“Yundi and Nellie both looked amazed, and Yundi said,  “That looks like a lot of running!

I bet those Bobbin Girls were real tired after working. How long a day did they work Coach?”

image of one of the Bobbin Girls in the textile mill.

“The Bobbin Girls put in a long-long day,” answered Coach; “10 hours or so. Plus, the big room with the big looms had the windows closed to keep the wind from messing up the threads of cotton. A little breeze could get them mixed up and stuck. That stops the loom from working.”

“The windows were closed? It must have been so hot,” said Nellie.“Oh yes, very hot and very loud. The giant looms make an awful racket,” added Coach.

Coach pulls out his phone, and says, “I have a youtube movie of a working mill room at the Boott Mills in Lowell. Let’s look at it together. This video shows several machines working at the same time.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTmYV3J5JU4

Yundi shook his head and said, “Wow Coach, sure am glad my classroom at school is air conditioned. But, my classroom can kinda get just as loud – SOMETIMES!!”

Coach laughed and shook his head in agreement and Nellie just giggled. Then Nellie added, “I’m glad that, in this country, young girls like me don’t have to work in factories like the Bobbin Girls did.”

Story by:

image of Coach Campbell, author

Ned M Campbell is a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army Officer, who also teaches United States history at a public high school in Brooklyn, NY. He is a published writer, and a volunteer contributor to “Can Do” Street blog for kids and parents. In addition, he is the voice of Coach Campbell in the “Can Do” Street program.

Pocket

Hector Gets the Homework Talk

September 14th, 2017

HectorHector was enjoying and afternoon of skateboarding when his dad called him into the house.

Not good thought Hector. It is only 4 o’clock, too soon for supper.

When Hector  went inside he saw his mom and dad sitting at the dining room table. They asked him to sit down at the table with them.

Uh, oh thought Hector, did I forget to do a chore? Did my sister, Maria, snitch on me for eating her snack last night? He couldn’t think what else he might have done wrong.

His dad said, “You’re not in trouble, Hector. We just want to talk with you about homework  now that the school year has started. We want you to get off to a good start. We want you to have good homework practices.

Last year, you had a hard time doing homework, not because it was hard, but because you kept putting off and then you would rush through it and not do your best work.

This year, Hector, you will have more homework than last year. It will take time to do. I know there will be times when you would rather be doing other things, like skateboarding or watching TV. But, when you put homework off to the last minute, you make it hard on yourself.

So, make up your mind to do your homework first thing , when you get home. Then you will be able to have fun. You won’t have to be worrying about getting your homework done.

So, Hector, do you promise to do your homework as soon as you get home?”

Hector was glad he wasn’t in trouble, but he wasn’t happy to have to promise to do his homework as soon as he got home from school.  He could see by the look on his dad’s face that his dad meant business. He looked at his mom. She was nodding yes to everything dad said.

His dad said, “Well Hector, we are waiting for your answer. Hector answered, “I promise.”

“Good,” said dad. “Now you can go back out and skateboard until dinner.”

As Hector picked up his skateboard and walked outside he couldn’t help but think that making promises and keeping them is tough!

Pocket