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Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom!

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A small miracle occurred last week…

It was spring conferences at my elementary school and I had only a handful to attend (praise the Lord!) . So I wrote a to-list list ( gasp! ) and checked off several items from the list ( double gasp!) . Several hours of sorting, dusting, recycling, and refiling led to a tidier room and a happier me. Unfortunately, the untrained eye would not notice the slightest difference. ๐Ÿ™

So it is with a feeling of camaraderie that I discuss Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom!

Mrs. McBloom is a 50 year veteran teacher ( her students are obviously nothing like mine! ) and getting ready to retire in a week. But… her classroom is a historic monument of a half-decades worth of papers, lunches, science experiments, plants and memories. She asks her students to “use their noggins” and determine a plan to help clean-up the room. A whippersnapper of a student comes up with a brilliant plan that accomplishes two tasks: cleaning up the room AND honoring Mrs. McBloom.

Speech Therapy Ideas:

1. This story has “Where’s Waldo” level of illustrative detail. It is perfect for children to “find” items, describe where items are, describe pictures, and talk about details.

2. Many of the pages contain two adorable rodents (hamsters?) hidden on the page. Find the animals and describe what they are doing using descriptive sentences.

3. Practice /k, g/ sounds throughout the story, including: McBloom, lickety, abracadabra, clean, Pumpernickel, class, noggin, cruise.

4. Predict the meanings of less-familiar phrases based on context: “use your noggin”, “lickety-split”, “whippersnaper”, “mighty fine”, “nipper”, “pint-sized”, “fancy-shmancy”, “higgly-piggly”, “bon voyage”.

5. Answer higher-level questions: Why is Mrs. McBloom’s classroom so messy? Why does Mrs. McBloom choose Georgia’s idea and not the other students’ ideas? How does the town raise money to honor Mrs. McBloom? Why is there an apple tree growing in the classroom? Do you think Miss Bumblesprout will also have a messy classroom? Why or why not?

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14 Comments

  1. How fun! (Not the cleaning so much but the book!)

    It’s amazing how a good cleaning can brighten my mood. My in-laws were here this weekend so I ran around like a crazy person dusting and mopping before they arrived Sat. morning, and it feels so good to have a clean house! I know the pristine-ness won’t last long, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can!

  2. Visiting from UBP. Thanks for the book review…I went online and requested it from our library system …I think my kids will enjoy it since all their teachers have “messy and unorganized” rooms, to the non teacher eyes.

  3. Sounds like a fun book! I loved Where’s Waldo as kid. I loved your Speech Therapy tips as well.

  4. Thank you!! I’m going to see if I can get this through our library!

  5. I always love buying new books for the kiddos. Thanks for giving me ideas:)

  6. You have great ideas. I would love to sit in on one of your classes. I bet you’re great.

  7. Oh my kids would LOVE this book as we declutter in preparation for a move. (and because my “room” is totally trashed right now and could use a good cleaning)

  8. Mrs. McBloom is the cutest teacher I’ve ever seen. Love the illustrations on this one.

  9. Sounds like a great book – another one I will have to look for at our library.

  10. I so have to give my kitchen a good cleaning. :o(

  11. I always love a good book for my kiddos! Thanks for the suggestion. Have a wonderful day.

  12. Looks like an awesome book! I may need to put it on my wish-list.

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