Playing Possum

Thank God it's Friday. With school almost out, the students are wild and crazy. But not as crazy as their teacher.
We have this really neat program at our elementary called WatchDOGS. It stands for Dads Of Great Students. Each student's dad (or uncle, or grandpa) has the opportunity to spend one whole day at school...just walking around making sure things are safe, doors are locked, etc...spending time in their child's classroom...eating lunch with their child...helping out in the cafeteria or bus line by doing some crowd control. They get official t-shirts and name tags and a schedule to follow. I've had several in my room this year, and I had one today.
He came in with his daughter, and the first thing she said was, "My dad has a possum in his truck!" I made an interested face and said, "Hmmm." The day went on...he sat by her while she took her math test, helped supervise the playground, and was walking to lunch with us when another student asked him about the possum. "Is it alive?" He said it was. He said they had seen it running around the parking lot that morning so he caught it and put it in a box in his truck. Then looked at me and said, "I could bring it in if you want." Of course I want a wild, disease-ridden, pest in my classroom! But I just smiled and said, "You know, we have science right after lunch. That would be a great time."
Then I promptly went into the teacher's lounge and informed the first grade aide (who, for some strange reason I still haven't figured out, teaches science for all of us on Friday) that she would have a special visitor. She was not thrilled. But we must support the children's education.
Mr. Sybert brought in the possum, which was actually pretty cute (it was a baby), and held it in his gloved hand while he walked around the classroom so each student could see. I had warned them with violent bodily harm if their seat came out of their seat while the possum was visiting, and they were remarkably good during the whole thing. "Look! It's just like on Over The Hedge!" Mr. Sybert gently laid the little guy back in the cardboard box and it stayed perfectly still..."It's playing possum," he said. No kidding.
Next week's science lesson...racoons.