The “Can Dos” were all excited about the day’s field trip to a new mall in the next town.

They were going to visit a children’s bookstore where, in addition to seeing and hearing about all the new books for sale, they would be participating in a story time.

After spending most of the morning in the mall book store, they would have lunch in the food court.

Miss Pat called the class to order and said,”Please take your seats. I have an announcement to make and then I want to go over mall manners before we line up for the bus.

The book store owner has offered to give each one of you a free copy of the new book she will be reading from during story time.” The class broke out clapping. When they quieted down, Miss Pat continued, “Before we are can think about whether or not we are getting a free book, we need to think about our behavior in the mall. Did we earn a free book by showing that we know how to behave in a mall. Do we have mall manners”?

The “Can Dos” all got questioning looks on their faces and Hector blurted out,”What are mall manners”? Miss Pat smiled and said, “That’s what we need to talk about. I have seen some of you in a mall and you were not practicing mall manners. You were running and  bumped into other shoppers. One or two of you were fooling around on the escalator…a dangerous thing to do. In the food court you cut in line in front of people who were in line before you got there.”

The “Can Dos” all got quiet. Most had done one of the things Miss Pat mentioned. Then Nellie asked,”What are some other mall manners that we need to know”?

“Well, said Miss Pat, “Here are some other mall behaviors that are important:

• No yelling or making funny mouth noises
• No throwing punches, pushing each other, grabbing each others clothing
• When you use the public bathroom, close the stall door, flush the toilet, wash your hands, and throw the paper towels you use in the trash
• In the food court, be ready to order when it is your turn, clean up after yourself at the table and throw your garbage in the trash can.”

“Wow,” said Hector,” That’s a lot of things we can’t do. That’s a lot to remember. What can we do”?

Miss Pat smiled and answered,”You can walk and talk with friends, tell jokes, share snacks, look in shop windows, enjoy the book store, have a lunch with friends and see new things. Most of all you can be the proud owner of a new book!”

Later that day, when the class got back from their mall trip, Miss Pat told them how proud she was of their mall manners. Then she opened up the box of new books that the store owner had given her and handed one to each of the “Can Dos!”

You guessed it…the entire class practiced mall manners!”