SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

Most of the time Alex is a pretty darn laid back guy. He handles fire drills and tornado drills just fine, and he doesn’t even move a whisker when the bell rings even if he is sitting on the front desk right beneath it.

But vacuum cleaners — that is an entirely different thing. Alex hates the sound of the vacuum cleaner!

Most mornings, Ms. Verda comes in to vacuum the library, and when she leaves I know exactly where to look to find a hiding Mr. Alex. (more…)

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

I’ve always thought of January and February as the draggy, dull months in the school year. Alex assures me that isn’t so, at least for him.

Last week, our secondary social studies students staged a history parade, complete with costumes, signs and drums. Alex had to go out and see what was happening in the hall, and he had his picture taken with the group.

One student in the parade was our exchange student from Turkey. (more…)

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

There’s nothing like a good story to end the week! My 5th and 6th graders came for their weekly library time and we stuck to our rule of “Books before cats!” We did a library skills lesson on the online catalog and ways we can use it to search, and the students got their books chosen and checked out.

They then reminded me that I’d said I’d read a book to them, a new one to our library. It is called Ham the Astrochimp, by Richard Hilliard and is about Ham, the chimpanzee who was America’s very first “space pioneer.” The book was a gift from a real “rocket scientist” with NASA, the daughter of one of our teachers.

As we headed toward the bean bags, Makayla asked, “Can Alex listen with us?” (more…)