Baa!

I came across a really cute book a couple of months ago:

The author only uses two different words in the whole book. On every page except the last page, the word moo appears in some form. Punctuation and the facial expressions of the cow clearly explain what is happening in this story.

I thought the story was hilarious, and so did my students. We had to read it twice because once just wasn't enough. After we were done laughing, we discussed the importance of punctuation. They understood that "Moo?" clearly means something different than "MOO!!!"

On the last page of Moo!, the cow blames a sheep for his actions, and the author introduces the second word, baa, to the story. We decided to see if we could create our own stories using David LaRochelle's example and the new sheep character.

Over the next couple of days, my students plotted out their stories, made flip books, and finally wrote and illustrated their own Baa! stories.

On Friday my students presented their stories to the class. Some were a little embarrassed about saying "baa" over and over again in different voices, but once they got started they had us laughing all over again.

I love the sheep in the hammock. I imagine that is the exact sound I would make if I was a sheep swaying back and forth. . .

Iguana Soup

Any retreat with the theme of "Survivor" is bound to be a little crazy.

Our 4th - 6th grade students were on eight different tribes. We spent the morning pushing our students physically through various activities. Running, swimming, climbing, searching, crawling, they did it all. They were exhausted by lunch time.

After free time in the pool, the students rotated through different workshops. They learned to read and follow a compass, pitch a tent, create an SOS signal, and build a fire.

The real fun came at dinner time. Two of the workers from NCA came out to the retreat center to show my students how to kill, skin, and cook iguana. We received a lot of different reactions - screams, shouts of "This is the coolest thing ever!" and some tears. After everyone calmed down, each group got their own iguana and set to work. The brave students handled the iguanas, while the rest cut onions and tomatoes for their soup and rebuilt their fires. It soon became dark. I loved watching all the groups huddled around their fires, mixing soup, and hearing them talk about the experience. By the time the soup was done, most were either 1) brave enough or 2) hungry enough to eat the soup. Did I try it? Of course! Wasn't bad. Imagine tough chicken with a slight fish taste.

Here's a look at our day in pictures:

Getting ready for the day's activities

Mid-afternoon visit from a scorpion

Mr. Iguana

Ready for some high quality reactions?

Soup preparation 

Iguana preparation

Showing off his iguana skinning skills

My first taste of iguana soup

More than outdoor survivor skills and teamwork, we wanted our students to walk away from the retreat with spiritual truths that they can apply to their lives. During our chapel sessions, we learned that in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. (Romans 8:37)

Ending the retreat with a little water fun