SLANG FOR “SLEEPY”
snoozybushedwrung out
burned outworn out
pegged outconked outbagged
zonked
worn to a frazzle
SLANG FOR “GOING TO BED”
catching some shut eye
kippingflopping
hitting the hayforty winks
catching a few zzzzz’s
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Recess at Night School is exactly like recess at regular school… or is it?
When it was time to illustrate this part of the story, I wondered what a playground at 2:00 a.m. really looked like and felt like — so I went to one.
What do you think the atmosphere was like? Children answer: Spooky, eery, chilly, lonely, weird. All of which was true! I went back home fast.
FABULOUS CLASS PROJECT:
How about inventing Underwater School?
How about Upside Down School?
The most interesting brainstorming sessions I’ve had with kids about Night School have been about inventing other truly unusual schools.
- How about Underwater School? You’d put on scuba gear at the front door, then dive below. You spend the day at desks made out of shipwreck materials, have fish for lunch, and use waterproof paper.
- Or The Trapeze Academy — the only way to get down the halls is by trampolines, high wires and trapeze swings.
- Other students came up with Brat Academy, or constructed Everything-On-Wheels Elementary. A school named Luxurious Mansion School had velvet-covered desks and chandeliers in every room, with butlers awaiting orders to open juice boxes.
- At Candy School, all the subjects — math, science, spelling, geography — were related to candy. One third grader created Christmas School. The reindeer were responsible for geography and map-making.
- The new, weird school you create can have its own school uniform, its own song, appropriate desks, and a lunch that ties in with the theme. For example, when we brainstormed Laziness School at one school, these were:
…a uniform of pajamas
…a lullaby
…big soft reclining armchairs
…and something that didn’t require much chewing.
- We used the Thesaurus to look up all the different ways of saying lazy, and we found idle, lackadaisical, slothful, indolent, languid, lethargic..
- Then, of course, we had to find some words for the opposite: energetic, bustling, vibrant, vigorous, industrious. (One boy said, “Type A.”)
- Once the new weird school is invented, then it needs a story, and the story needs a plot. A plot is about a problem. The story usually begins just when the situation changes.
- In Laziness School, we decided that the principal was so laid-back he only half-filled out the forms for the new teacher, and by mistake they were sent Miss On-the-go, who was the bounciest and most exuberant teacher imaginable.
- What do you think would happen next? How will the students handle this startling change?
- And what’s happening across town, where the easygoing teacher intended for Laziness School ended up at Dynamic Middle School instead?
In Night School, there are stairs like
the ones they had in ancient castles.
See how they work on the next page.
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