Scaredy Squirrel Invasion

I love Scaredy Squirrel!

This quirky character, created by French Canadian author Melanie Watt, is so entertaining with his paranoid view of the world.  And even though he is always prepared for unexpected moments, things never seem to go according to plan.

The books are cleverly written and HILARIOUS!

So I decided that Scaredy needed to invade our classroom this week, right after Halloween (the scariest holiday of them all).  This is similar to Pigeon Week (right before Thanksgiving) and the Gingerbread friends who come each December.  It's so fun to get the kids on board with this character coming to life!

It all started this morning when we came into the classroom and one kiddo noticed this:

The kids quickly noticed that Scaredy was clutching a note, so I read it to everyone during our 'Morning Meeting'...actually Scaredy read it because he put it on my old iPhone which I use for various things in the classroom. 
[I used GarageBand and changed my voice, then sent it to iTunes]

In his letter, he asked if he could stay a while and promised he wouldn't be any trouble.  While he wasn't exactly naughty, he did go ahead and change a few things in the classroom during the day.  Instead of listening to 'Click, Clack, Boo" at the Listening Center (during small reading groups) he substituted it with a non-fiction book about squirrels that he wrote.  Instead of playing a reading game (during small reading groups) he had the kids make him some acorns (paper and paint) since he was hungry and couldn't find any outside anymore (snow now...Alaska).  He also changed the last part of my math lesson (done on the SmartBoard) to a scavenger hunt math game about him eating acorns.  The kids loved it and are convinced that he has come to life!

He has also posted some signs (advice, if you will) around the classroom:

I'm going to change these everyday...it's so fun and funny!

I'm trying to think of other fun things that I. . .I mean Scaredy can do.  Here are some ideas: setting out picture frames with pictures of his family, telling the kids he put 'acorns' in our bread (we have a bread machine and add a secret ingredient when we bake bread) but they'll really be mini chocolate chips. 

I also have been turning Scaredy Squirrel stories into Readers' Theater scripts!

The first book, 'Scaredy Squirrel' is ready to go!

Click above to check it out.

Stay tuned to see what happens next with our guest!