The week started off with very sad news.  Our dear little hamster, Ollie, had passed away on the weekend at Mrs. Boekhout’s house.  Although Mrs. B. had noticed that Ollie wasn’t as “spry” as last year, he seemed to be just fine on Friday.  As a matter of fact, early in the week he had entertained us with some interesting acrobatics while hanging upside down from the top of his cage! On Saturday night, however, Ollie just didn’t seem well.  Mrs. B. gave him some extra cuddles and tucked him into his little bed.  By Sunday morning he had passed away.

We have set up a little memorial for Ollie, with his picture and a copy of the Rainbow Bridge poem.  Everyone has written good-bye letters, which will be buried with him.  It is a beautiful spot behind Mrs. B.’s house, with trees, ferns, moss and the sound of the creek below.  We hope that he will meet some of Mrs. B.’s past hamster pets, like M.J., Fluffy, and Little Bit.  We also wonder if his spirit might look down over us, just like Gino in the story “Class Pets: Ghost of PS 42”.  We wrote about our many happy memories of dear Ollie. He was very sweet and gentle.  He didn’t bite, but he did like to nibble sometimes.  He loved getting his apple slice from the Special Helper every day.  He really did stuff food into his “suitcase cheeks” and hide it in his bed!  Sometimes he would “camp out” and take all his bed out of his bedroom and pack it down into the bottom level of his cages. Being mostly nocturnal, Ollie spent most of the school day snuggled up, asleep in his bed.   We could tell when he had done a lot of “exercise” because his big wheel at the top of his cage would be tipped down the next morning.

 It’s too bad that such adorable little creatures have such a short life span (only 2-3 years).  At least we know that he was well loved and cared for, given lots of yummy food, and had a large, interesting cage to live in. We will get another hamster after a while, but dear Ollie will always be in our heart. 

 

 

This version of the poem came from people-to-pets.com and the picture is by Maris Stella.

 

 

The Grade 2 Year End Party at the WaterPark was a BLAST!  The sun came out especially for us…yes, it really did, because it had rained all the week before! 

 

 

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It wouldn’t be a Classroom 2 “Year End” without a party for the Stuffies too! There were teddy bears, of course, but also moose, monkeys, dinosaurs, whales, Olympic mascots, bunnies, ponies, kitties, lions, snowmen, puppies, and MORE!

The day was a bit sprinkly so half the class stayed inside and the other half put their blankets (and umbrellas!) outside. BOTH groups had a great time!

We all had a delicious lunch and then settled down, all cozy in our blankets, for a butterfly video. What a great party!

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