One week I caught a sagebrush lizard the day before Show and Tell, Naturally it became my Show and Tell item. I don't remember where I caught it for sure; it wasn't the first lizard I had snatched, which is probably why I don't remember the specifics of catching it. Occasionally we would see one sunning itself on the western brick wall of our house, but they always seemed to be the fastest and hardest to catch. It likely came from the empty field across the street from my house. Don't let the word "field" fool you into picturing vegetation though; it was mostly bare of any flora except two scrub oak, a few sage brush, some cheat grass, and a little volunteer wheat along the road. The piece of ground was once a turkey farm, but all that remained of it was a sandy drought stricken six acres. The land was teeming with "wildlife" though and sagebrush lizards just happened to be one of the species (along with some wicked velvet ants that made you cry momma if they ever stung you).
I placed my lizard in a little plastic portable terrarium with some sand and maybe even a sagebrush clipping or two (I had to recreate it's habitat you know.) I probably even threw in a cricket in case it got hungry.
The following morning after the bus dropped us off I wandered the playground waiting for the bell to ring. (We weren't allowed to go to our classrooms until the first bell rang.) While I was playing I found the biggest praying mantis I had ever seen. I thought it would make a nice show and tell item as well, but I only had one terrarium so in it went with the lizard.
Once the bell rang and we filed into our classroom, our teacher collected our show and tell items and placed them on a counter so that they didn't distract us during the day's lessons. Now fast forward a few hours to the time were were all waiting for. Mrs. Drake gave us the go-ahead to find our item on the counter and bring it to our desk, where we would each wait for our turn during Show and Tell.
It was easy to locate my specimens in their clear plastic case with a bright blue lid. I picked it up and looked inside to see how my critters were liking first grade. To my horror I saw the remains of my lizard; half a tail and two legs, and a head. I thought I had caught a praying mantis, but it turned out I caught a preying mantis. Who knew they ate lizards? I sure didn't. If anything, I was expecting the lizard to eat it!
I don't remember what I told the class, but I was sorely disappointed that all I had to show was a fat insect that ate my Show and Tell item.
1 comment:
lol! oh I loved mrs drake! do you remember the green slime ghost that we got candy out of?
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