5. The Winner(s)!

5 The Winner(s)! Monday morning Dear first-grade journal, 18 FACTS! I GOT 18 FACTS! I can't wait to choose my part in the play! This is going to be the time of my life. I tell you! From, Junie B., First Grader

P.S. Two more kids are sick from school today. Plus Lennie just went to the nurse. P.S. (again) Sheldon is wearing sandwich bags on his hands today. It is to keep germs off, I believe. Just then, Mr. Scary finished taking attendance. And he said to please put our journals away. "As you can see, we're missing three more classmates today," he said kind of frustrated. "It's going to be hard to do a play with so many people absent. But we'll keep our fingers crossed that our classmates will be back in time to participate. Just then, we heard a rustly sound. Sheldon was crossing his fingers inside his sandwich bags.

After he got done, he waved to Mr. Scary very pleasant. Mr. Scary looked at him for a real long time. Then he waved back. Finally, he stood up and walked to the board. "Boys and girls, I thought it would be fun to base our play on the facts you gathered for homework," he said. He picked up the chalk. "If you have a fact you'd like to share, raise your hand and I'll write it on the board. Then—when we've listed all our facts—we can choose our play parts," he said. "Now who would like to go first?" José shot his hand in the air speedy fast. "I would! I would! I have a poem!" he said. Then he jumped right up, and he started to read.

In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He had three ships and left from Spain; He sailed through sunshine, wind, and rain. Mr. Scary smiled. "Nice, José. That's a great poem you found," he said. "Let's see how many facts we can find there." He wrote them down. 1. Columbus was a sailor. 2. He had three ships. 3. He sailed from Spain. 4. The year was 1492. Just then, Sheldon started waving his plastic hands very urgent. "I know the names of the ships! I know the names of the ships!" he called out. "They're the Ni.a, the Pinta, and the Santa María."

"Excellent job, Sheldon," said Mr. Scary. He printed the names on the board. 5. Ni.a, Pinta, Santa María Then Mr. Scary started to call on someone else. But Sheldon stood up and read more from his paper. "Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. He landed on some islands near America," he read. Mr. Scary added the new facts to the list. 6. Sailed the Atlantic Ocean. 7. Arrived in islands near America. "Okay. Well, thank you again, Sheldon," he said. "Now I think we should let someone else have a—" Sheldon interrupted. "My uncle Vern sailed to an island once," he said. "He came back with a woman named Bunny." Sheldon kept on standing there. "Aunt

Bunny has tattoos," he said. After that, Mr. Scary hurried to Sheldon's desk. And he put him back in his chair. May went next. "My fact is about the Mayflower," she said. "The Mayflower is the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America. And so I am going to be the Mayflower in our Columbus play. Because both of our names start with May." Mr. Scary looked curious at her. "Yes, but the Mayflower didn't sail to America until over a hundred years after Columbus," he said. "I know it," she said. "But both of our names still start with May. Don't you get it?" "Yes, May. I get it," said Mr. Scary. "But we can't change history. So I'm afraid the Mayflower won't be sailing in our Columbus play."