PLAY DAY!

All students in grades K-3 had the opportunity to see the production of Miss Nelson is Missing! on March 4 or 5. Students were very excited to see the real Viola Swamp. For most students, this was their first experience of live theater. They felt so grown up going to Riverside Community College and sitting in the Landis Theater.

Thank you Riverside Educational Enrichment Foundation (REEF) for awarding our grant request. For more information about REEF and how you can contribute to this wonderful organization, visit http://www.riversideschoolsrule.org/.

Miss Nelson Is Missing!

On Halloween, I dressed up as Miss Viola Swamp from the book Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall. This children's book is about a teacher, Miss Nelson, and her class of elementary school students. It describes a day when the sweet Miss Nelson is absent from class and in her place is a mean substitute teacher, Miss Viola Swamp.

After an especially rowdy day in Miss Nelson's class, her students discover that Miss Nelson is not coming to school the next day. "Now we can really act up," yells one of the students. However, before they get the chance to make mischief, Miss Nelson's substitute, Miss Viola Swamp, shows up. The students think she is a real witch! Swamp is a strict disciplinarian and gives the students a lot more school work than Miss Nelson ever did. The students miss Miss Nelson is so much that they go looking for Miss Nelson and make unlikely predictions about what may have happened to her. The following day, Miss Nelson returns to class and the children rejoice. At the end of the book, the reader infers that Miss Viola Swamp was Miss Nelson in disguise.

Next time you visit the library, check out this book Miss Nelson Is Missing! Also, take a look at its two sequels: Miss Nelson is Back and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day.