Lesson 460: Sweet dreams, Sweet Pea

Good evening, Readers.

It's Friday the 13th!

As of this writing, 

all is well at the Lamp Post--

but there are approximately three hours left in this day.

You never know.

I've been thinking a lot about dreams today

as I reminded my students why we were having Monday off of school--

Martin Luther King Day.

I told them to read over his I Have a Dream Speech,

and think about it on Monday when we weren't in school.

My classes are studying fairy tales.

This week we read the Hans Christian Andersen tale,

Princess and the Pea.

If it's been a few years and the story is a bit foggy,

here are a few cool artist renderings to remind you.

A girl, 

claiming to be a real princess,

showed up at the King's castle one stormy night,

seeking refuge from terrible weather.

The royal family took her in 

and gave her a place to rest for the night.

Unbeknownst to the princess,

the  King and Queen decided to conduct an experiment 

to test if the princess was a real princess as she claimed.

They placed a single pea beneath 20 feather beds

stacked upon 20 mattresses.

As the story goes,

the princess was awake all night,

unable to sleep because she felt a lump in her bed.

Only a real princess 

would have skin so delicate to feel it.

It was most interesting to me to see the students' reactions to this.

As scrappy, 

independent,

do-it-yourself-ers--

my American school children responded with the following:

Oh PLEEEZE!

Give me a break!

You've GOT to be kidding!

Get over yourself, Princess!

American kids aren't sold on royalty,

entitlement,

and pretentiousness

in the least,

no matter what the nightly news reports.

My kids could have slept like rocks

through a lump made by a bowling ball,

evidenced by the drool.

I came into work a half an hour early 

every day this week,

to tape peas underneath all of their chairs.

I began class by asking them if they ever wished they were royal,

or wondered if they had royal blood running through their veins.

I'm proud to say that ALL of my students 

FAILED this test!

Upon revelation at the end of class

that they had been sitting upon a pea,

undetected by their tough American hineys 

for the entire class period,

we cheered

and clapped

and high fived!

We celebrated the fact that we are not royal

and better yet--

hardworking American kids instead.

There is hope, Readers.

I can assure you of that.

The Erie snow leopards aren't dreaming of spring just yet.

We are smack dab in mid-winter 

and are trying to make the most of the wintry weather.

Sledding is always fun,

not to mention a great workout.

Skiing and snowboarding are really cool, too,

although Eloise does neither.

She just spectates,

with a camera, of course.

Tubing at Peek-n-Peak is a fun activity.

There's a nice escalator that gives you a ride back up

after your icy plunge downhill.

The snow melted quickly after a fast,

mid-week warm-up,

so we are neck deep in flooding and mud tonight.

Instead of dreaming of snow activities,

we are looking for other things to do.

If you're bored, Erieites--

you can vote for new Monopoly game pieces.

This truly is worth checking out!

Vote for your monopoly game pieces

Monopoly vote CLICK HERE

You can vote for 8 pieces.

I picked the following:

hat

key

typewriter

camera

cowboy boot

pocket watch

ducky

&

rabbit

Weekend homework:

Let me know which pieces you voted for.

It's time for nighty-night, Readers.

Eloise suggests you find a fairy tale and read it.

Does the royalty annoy you?

Good!

It does me, too.

Still, fairy tales spur thought,

and that is a good thing.

Take it from Einstein.

Here's an interesting read on Einstein and fairy tales if you are interested:

Story behind the Einstein fairy tale quote CLICK HERE

In honor of the Man of the Week,

Hans Christian Andersen,

I'll summarize with this quote:

True 'dat.

Sweet dreams,

Sweet Peas.

ELOISE