What's the grossest thing that's ever happened to me? Well, I've had pets, so I've done my share of gross clean-ups of various yuck that comes out of the front and back ends of dogs and cats. BLECH!
I kept Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches as classroom pets for a lot of years. I think they are pretty cool critters, but for lots of people they were really high up on the scale of grossness. EEK!
When I worked at the swimming pool, it became routine practice after giving swimming lessons to the littlest kids to skim giant snot-wads out of the water (with no protective gloves) and fling them onto the sidewalk to dry up and blow away. (Better that, than to swim into them!) YUCK!
Come to think of it, being a teacher has given me plenty of gross experiences. The grossest was probably when I looked down at a student's head and saw it crawling with lice. GROSS!
My most recent gross experience was last Friday when a surgeon cut four little slits in my belly, blew me up like a balloon through one, stuck a light and a camera in through a couple others, and reached in and--snip-snip--cut my gallbladder free and dragged it out through one of the holes. EWWW!
I'm starting to think I could have been a writer or a consultant for Chronicle Books' newest Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook:
by David Borgenicht, Nathaniel Marunas, and Robin Epstein
illustrated by Chuck Gonzales
Chronicle Books, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks have been
favorites in my classroom since the first one came out. There is no doubt in my mind that this edition will be the most popular. It has boogers, farts, burps, pus, and pinkeye.
It also has practical information about how to plunge a toilet, how to remove a tick (get an adult's help is the first step), and how to safely drink from the drinking fountain at school.
For possible word study lessons, there is a table of barfonyms and a list of poopisms. You can learn how to say what you say after someone sneezes in seven different languages.
But most of all, this book is just good GROSS fun! Here's an example:
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: GROSS Junior Edition is on tour. For further examples of icky wonderfulness, a chance to win a copy of the book, and more, check out these blogs:
Sept. 27: Brimful Curiosities
Sept. 29: Bookmarkable
Sept. 30: Dad of Divas
Oct. 1: Stiletto Storytime
Oct. 2: A Sea of Books
Oct. 3: Great Kid Books
Oct. 4: A Year of Reading -- YOU ARE HERE!
Oct. 5: The Children’s Book Review
Oct. 6: 5 Minutes for Books
Oct. 7: Two Writing Teachers
Oct. 8: Mocha Dad
What's the grossest thing that ever happened to you? Share your story in the comments!
