Joe and the Cheerleaders

Mrs. E wanted to have cheer practice in my room today.  My room doesn't have a lot of activities for K-2nd graders, but I thought, why not?  So the nine girls and I trekked down to my room while Mrs. E got the snack ready. 


The two kindergartners wanted to watch Joe and then I had the brilliant idea to take him for a walk!  So we took him out of his pen and let him walk around.  He didn't get very far.  All the little girls crowded around him wanting to pet him and hold him.  Their mouths were moving at a mile-a-minute asking questions about our awesome class pet.  Then one of them asked if he was going to poop on the floor. 
"Nope, he only poops after he has a bath."
"Ohhh!  Can we give him a bath?"
I sent two of the second graders to get him some bath water.  They got it just right!  The perfect depth, the perfect temperature...  all that was left was to put him in the tub.  And then the cheerleaders jostled around to get the best spot to watch him.  There were enough of them gathered around the little ice cream pail that some people couldn't see.  So then a few girls ran off crying because someone had yelled at them because they couldn't see and then I had to coax them back and try to referee the other girls... finally everyone got situated and we settled in to wait.  Every few seconds someone would ask when he was going to poop. 


He didn't end up going to the bathroom.  We put him back in his pen and then they switched their attention to the smartboard.  And then I had to police who got to write on the board and which person's turn was next... and finally Mrs. E brought the popcorn.  One girl had a loose tooth that was bothering her, so I read them the Robert Munsch book Andrew's Loose Tooth.  And then we finally got down to cheering. 


We learned two new cheers today and added a surprise to our actions in the school song.  I told the girls we have to keep it a secret until Friday at our school's pep fest.  Half of them said they couldn't do it; it would be too hard.  But I've heard from multiple sources that the cheerleaders have a secret and they aren't telling!