5 May

5 May I ate chocolate custard on May 3. Do you know why? Because May 3 is National Chocolate Custard Day, of course! But that's not my favorite holiday in May. Two days later, Mrs. Roopy was waiting for us when we walked into the media center.

"What are we celebrating today, Mrs. Roopy?" asked Neil. "Oh, it's a very special holiday," she replied. "Today is International—"* But she didn't have the chance to finish her sentence. Our principal, Mrs. Stoker, walked into the media center. "Good morning!" she said. "I just wanted to see how you kids were making out." Ugh! Gross! "While I'm here," said Mrs. Stoker, "do you know how to fix a broken tuba?" "How?" we shouted. "With a tuba glue!" said Mrs. Stoker. Mrs. Stoker just can't resist telling jokes. "Hey," she said, "what do you call an orchestra with just one tuba?" "What?" we shouted. "A one-ba!" said Mrs. Stoker. "Get it? Oneba? Tuba? Say, did you hear about the guy who swallowed a kazoo?" "No," we shouted. "Lucky he wasn't a tuba player!" said Mrs. Stoker. "But seriously, which musical instrument can you find in a bathroom?"

"Which?" we shouted. "A tuba toothpaste!" said Mrs. Stoker. "Well, you've been a wonderful audience. I've got to go to a meeting now." Then she left. That was weird. "Why was Mrs. Stoker telling us tuba jokes?" Ryan asked Mrs. Roopy. "Because today is International Tuba Day!" she said excitedly. "On the first Friday in May, we honor tuba players." "Let's celebrate!" we all shouted. We went to the computers to research International Tuba Day. It was started in 1979 by a high school student in Pennsylvania. He was tired of his classmates making fun of him for playing the tuba in the school band. So he started a holiday for tuba players. The idea spread, and now International Tuba Day is celebrated all over the world. We learned lots of stuff about tubas. It was invented in 1835 in Germany. Do you know why a tuba is called a tuba? "Tuba" is the Latin word for "tube." And one tuba has up to eighteen feet of tubing.

"I have a surprise for you," said Mrs. Roopy. "Follow me!" She took us to the media center storage room, where she keeps extra books and broken computers. And you'll never believe what was in the storage room. It was a bunch of tubas, of course! "WOW," we all said, which is "MOM" upside down. "Where do you think Mrs. Roopy got all those tubas?" Alexia asked me. "From Rent-A-Tuba," I told her. "You can rent anything." Mrs. Roopy said we could play the tubas. So each of us picked one up. Or tried to. A tuba weighs about a million hundred pounds. Finally, I was able to pick one up. Tubas are hard to play. You have to vibrate your lips and blow into this mouthpiece thing. With a little practice, I was able to make something like a tuba sound. "Let's have a parade!" Mrs. Roopy said. We marched out of the media center playing the tubas. Then we marched down the hall, out the front door, and down the street. It sounded

horrible, and we were all tired from carrying around the tubas, but it was fun. May is another great month for weird holidays. On May 3, we also celebrated National Two Different

Colored Shoes Day and National Lumpy Rug Day. On May 8, we celebrated No Socks Day. On May 14, we celebrated National Dance Like a Chicken Day. On May 18, we celebrated No Dirty Dishes Day. On May 23, we celebrated World Turtle Day and National Taffy Day. On May 26, we celebrated National Paper Airplane Day. On May 27, we celebrated Cellophane Tape Day and National Sunscreen Day. As Mrs. Roopy says, there's always something to celebrate.