Ugh. all my kids were freaking out today over the story that's been all over the news... (read the article here) In Mankato, according to the kids, apparently there are people dressing up like creepy, murderous clowns who go around staring into surveillance cameras for hours and they stab people or drag them off into the woods. The 5-8th graders were talking about it on the bus, scaring the preschoolers and kindergartners (and even some 5th and 6th graders) and made some of the little kids cry. Sigh. Their big thing was that there's a 90% chance the clown is coming to Nicollet, so they were wondering/worrying if the clown would come to our school too. And shouldn't we practice a lockdown drill in case that happens???
My first question for them was, even if there were a clown, why would it come to Nicollet? He'd have to go through a winding detour to get there! And there are way more people in Mankato and way more media coverage too! So why bother with us out here? Some were also worried about it getting them at their houses in New Ulm. But New Ulm is even farther away (plus a detour) so the "clown" probably isn't going there either.
My next question was, "How do they know for 90% sure that the clown is coming to Nicollet? Did they ask him? Did he say, 'I'm going to Nicollet next.'" Well, they didn't have an answer for me.
I'd heard the story on the radio news as I ate breakfast this morning, but the report said nothing about dangerous circumstances. Just that according to social media, there was a clown lurking around MSU and Mankato East, but that none of that had ever been reported to the police. Someone on social media (aka Facebook or Twitter, etc.) went down to where the clown had supposedly been sighted and that person said he saw nothing. So it's basically a hoax. But the kids were POSITIVE it was true. Mr. E called the sheriff to see if he knew anything and the sheriff said it's people making stuff up. No one has actually seen any clowns walking around; it's all been supposed stuff posted online. And no one has made any calls to the police.
My kids of course wanted to keep talking about it, but some were getting super freaked out, so we had to ban the topic. And yet they kept going! So we (as a class) came up with consequences if anyone would talk about it. Missing recess and writing 100 sentences, "I will not talk about clowns." Their idea, not mine. But hey, if that's what they want! The rest of the day, I heard no talk of clowns. And now for a new topic!
In other news, today was Fire Prevention Day. Actually, it's the whole week, but the fire fighters came out today. We did our drill in 35 seconds this time!
My class got to go outside first (before a speaker came in our room to give them stuff and talk about fire safety). We got to spray the fire hose and put on the fire gear and honk the horns in the trucks. My kids did not get nearly the amount of time they wanted to play around outside. I called them back inside once the other classes made an appearance... it was maybe 10 minutes after we'd gone out? So they kept asking if we could go again once the other grades went back to class. Nope! We had our chance. Plus they've done this since they were in kindergarten, so it's all stuff they've done before. I took some good pictures of them in the gear and while they were spraying the hose. Maybe we'll make the paper!
Whew, I am pooped. We had a two hour long staff meeting after school, plus my usual to-do list afterwards. Of course, there's still stuff I could and should do here, but it's past time for me to get home, so the rest will have to wait.My kids have been passing around a cold and I (unfortunately) caught it. Starts with a sore throat, ends with lots of sniffling and pluggy sinuses. Chicken noodle soup for supper I guess!
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