While loading the bus, I held a sign with a blue bus on it so the kids would know which bus I was driving. As the weeks progressed, I let students hold the sign. At this point, all the kids were aware of which bus was the Blue Bus and which one was the Red Bus but there apparently was some excitement in holding the sign....so they continued to ask to hold the sign, and I let them.
One day the sign disappeared. When the kids asked to hold the sign I explained that it was gone. One little boy asked if he could “pretend” to hold the sign. I said sure. Another boy asked if he could help hold the pretend sign. I jokingly told them not to fight over the sign. It might drop and break. As you can guess, that's exactly what they did. I said, “Now look what you've done.... It's ripped in two.” A little girl that had been watching came up and said, “That's okay. I have some invisible tape.” The kids took turns holding the”pretend” sign for three days before they got tired of it.
The next pretend items on the bus were a couple of pretend DS's. If you don't know what a DS is, you obviously don't have a preteen. Have you heard of Nintendo Game Boys? Hand held video games? Well, Nintendo came out with a hand held video game called a DS that can interact with other DS's. A child sitting in the front of the bus can play a game with another child at the back of the bus. It's a hot item. They cost over a hundred dollars so the youngest riders on the bus either do not have them or their parents wisely won't let them take the DS's to school.
That doesn't stop a couple of the kids. They just drew a DS on paper and cut it out. They make all the sound effects themselves and have a great time. When one of the first graders starts bothering the kids around him, I tell him to take out his (pretend) DS and play by himself. It works. One first grader has told me (in detail) about the games that he's designing for his (pretend) DS. Watch out Bill Gates!
Jodi, a gal I work with, and I are in a (pretend) rock group with a couple fifth graders. We're called the "Bean-0's". Everyday we update our practice schedule or review our last weekend's performance. (All pretend, of course)
