The Zoo

In the interest of making participation in morning roll call a bit more compelling (and quiet), it seemed like a cute idea to give the kids animal names. The whole class sat around the other day deciding who is Monkey, who is Cheetah, etc. The idea definitely worked - they are SILENT while waiting for their animal name to be called. I don't know why I thought I would escape without a name - I didn't; instead of "Katrinaakka" (Sister Katherine), I am now "Zebraakka". The new animal names were the talk of the town for a couple of days and I was feeling very pleased with how dedicated they were to being called on in class. Very pleased until today, when I realized I had invited the zoo into my classroom. Now, with King Kong and Monkey literally swinging from the fan, Leopard pretending to eat Deer, Parrot screeching away from the window, Antelope hiding under her desk to avoid being attacked by Lion, I have undermined my original goal of decreasing the noise level. Now my classroom is just a zoo. Maybe I should invite my cockroach roommate.