Thank You, Logan!

• Logan’s Gifts
• Sniffles and Snuffles
• Logan’s Slogans
• Dear Parents

Logan’s Gifts

Logan is happily splashing through muddy puddles on her way to Hopscotch Hill School. As she enters the classroom, she holds up a bunch of big, wet leaves. She announces that she brought two leaves for everyone! Miss Sparks, her teacher, thanks her and says she can hand them out at Show-and-Tell. On her way to the sink to wash them off, she says “Hello” to Razzi, the class’ pet rabbit.

Everybody in the class loves the leaves! Spencer sticks them in his hair like antlers. Hallie puts hers together like butterfly wings. Logan puts the stems in her mouth so they stick out like whiskers. All the children begin to copy Logan.

Miss Sparks tells them it’s not clean to put leaves in their mouths. Besides, they can’t thank Logan for the leaves with them in their mouths. The children all remove the leaves from her mouths and wave a “Thanks” to Logan.

Each week, Logan brings something new for Show-and-Tell. Once, she brought little stones. Another time she brought acorns, and once a ladybug and worm she found in a puddle. Although Logan wanted to keep the ladybug and worm as classroom pets, Miss Sparks said they’d be happier outside. Disappointingly, Logan released them back outside. She’d never want to intentionally hurt an animal.

Razzi was Logan’s favorite animal. Sometimes he isn’t in his hutch because he likes to escape! All the children made a game of trying to spot Razzi when he escapes. Logan believes she’s good at finding Razzi because she knows how to think like a rabbit. She finds him behind the piano, under the reading tub, and in the dress-up castle. And whenever Logan finds Razzi, she gives him a kiss on the nose.

Sniffles and Snuffles

One morning, Logan finds Razzi snuggled on the bookshelf between two books. Logan carries him carefully back to his hutch. Miss Sparks, noticing how the children treat Razzi, asks if they’d like to take care of him. The children would split up into partners, and the partners must care for Razzi as a team for one week. They’d have to get Razzi fresh water, food, and clean his hutch. Most importantly, they’d be in charge of giving Razzi love!

Logan can’t wait until it’s her turn. So, she helps the other children when it’s their turn. Logan helps Connor take care of Razzi when Lindy is out sick. Logan helps scoop the poop for Delaney and Nathan because they think the poop is icky.

Finally, it’s Logan and Spencer’s turn to take care of Razzi. But on Monday morning, Logan feels funny. She has sniffles and a cloud inside her head. But she’s excited to take care of Razzi, so she swipes her nose and hurries on her way.

When she gets to school, Logan immediately goes to Razzi and picks him up. Razzi wiggles his nose and nestles into Logan’s arm happily. While talking to him, she realizes that her throat is sore. But she’s too happy to care! After Spencer arrives and they do their chores, Logan goes to give Razzi a kiss. But suddenly, her nose feels strange, and she lets out a huge sneeze!

The next day, Spencer sniffles as he fills the food bowl. But, they continue their chores. When Logan goes to give Razzi a kiss, he seems sleepy. The next morning, Logan learns Spencer is out sick with a cold. And when Logan goes to give Razzi his kiss, he just lifts one ear. Logan also notices he didn’t eat his food from the day before. Logan sees Razzi has watery eyes and a runny nose. And then, Razzi does the most surprising thing—he sneezes.

And then Logan realizes. She gave Razzi her cold! Miss Sparks comes over. Logan begins to cry because she feels so bad for giving Razzi her cold. Miss Sparks gives Logan a big hug, and explains that in rabbits, it’s called snuffles. But, rabbits can’t catch snuffles from people. Although, people can catch colds from other people.

Logan thinks back to her week. Maybe she gave Spencer a cold, too! Miss Sparks affirms that multiple children are out sick with colds lately. She’s sure a lot of germs have been passed around. And that’s why it’s important to cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, either with a tissue or in the crook of the elbow. And then, you must always wash your hands. And then, Miss Sparks says they’ll take Razzi to the veterinarian later today, so he begins to feel better soon.

Logan’s Slogans

That day, Miss Sparks explains Razzi’s snuffles to the rest of the class. And, she reminds the children that they need to be careful about spreading germs, too. The children watch as the principal comes to take Razzi away to the veterinarian. Everybody is sad to see Razzi leaving.

Miss Sparks suggests the class make get-well cards for Razzi while he’s gone. All the children take out their crayons and colored paper. Logan draws a picture of Razzi and writes We’ll miss you, Razzi. Get well soon. on her drawing. Miss Sparks says she’ll take all the drawings to the veterinarian after school.

Logan sees that Skylar drew a rabbit, too. Hallie drew her own face with tears coming out of her eyes. Then, Logan has a brilliant idea! At lunch, Logan tells Miss Sparks her idea about reminding everyone to be careful about germs.

When the children come back from lunch, they see three signs Logan has made. Each one has a picture and a slogan. One says If you think you are going to sneeze, come and get a tissue please. Another says People say “thanks” for leaves and worms, but not for icky, sneezy germs. So please, please, please! Catch your sneeze. And the last one says Using a tissue is a good habit, says Razzmatazz, our class rabbit. And do not forget to wash your hands. Rabbits can’t, but children can.

The children are very delighted. They pretend to sneeze and practice sneezing into their elbows or tissues. They wave their tissues at Logan and cheer “Thank you, Logan!”

A week later, Razzi comes back to the school, happier and hoppier than ever. By then, all the children are very good at remembering to cover their sneezes and coughs. And they always wash their hands afterwards, thanks to Logan’s memorable slogans.

Dear Parents

Discusses how to explore the great outdoors, take care of animals, and how to prevent others from getting sick. Topics include:

• Ask your child to be observant while in nature
• Encourage children to use their five senses when describing things
• Explore the world in all kinds of weather
• Take care of little critters for a while so the child can watch and observe it
• Hold onto drawings and pictures of animals so everyone can talk about how it changes as it grows, what they do, how they sound, etc
• Point out animal homes in nature so you can talk about what lives there and how they made their home
• Use fun language to describe germs, and show them how germs spread by using glitter, marker, or sparkles to show how germs stick to things
• Make up fun songs to remind people how long and frequently to wash hands
• Encourage children to make fund drawings around the house to remind them to use tissues