This week has been different. Miss Trees Are Green has been away studying, and so we have had a new teacher, Mr. Boston. Mr. Boston is from America and has taught us our normal classes but also introduced us to things about America. We have all become interested in visiting America and especially visiting Mr. Boston’s hometown of New York. New York seems an exciting place to visit. The class all wants to see baseball, basketball, eat hot dogs, and take a horse and carriage ride around Central Park! Although we miss Miss Trees Are Green, we will all fondly remember our time with Mr. Boston and “Cody Berry!”

Monday

Monday when we went into class, Mr. Boston was already organized and waiting. He introduced himself with a strong American accent. We loved the way that he talked and even telling us to “take a seat” sounded fun. Mr. Boston had already placed the schedule for the day on the board and some people groaned. We all turned and looked as we were not sure what Mr. Boston would do. He just gave a very large sigh.

As the day went on, we had to get through the work that Miss Trees Are Green had left. There were times when the class or certain people in the class did not want to do the work. Mr. Boston started to say, “The code is berry, and you can do this!” We all turned and looked and wondered who “Cody Berry” was.

The afternoon session was better. As Mr. Boston took us for P.E., he taught us how to play American baseball. As each player stepped to the mat with the baseball and the pitcher threw the ball, Mr. Boston would say, “The code is berry, you can do this!”

It was swimming after school. Niamh and I are in the same class. The teacher wanted us to dive from the springboard for the first time. Niamh and I looked at one another and said, “Cody Berry, you can do this!” Kids in the pool could hear and shouted, “Cody Berry!” With that, Niamh and I managed to dive from the springboard.

We took Niamh and her mum home in our car. Niamh and I spoke about “Cody Berry” and wondered what he or she could or could not do. Verity decided to add that, “Cody Berry likes to eat pizza!” Both Niamh and I turned to Verity, and both said, “You don’t know who Cody Berry is!” It was like we had taken ownership of “Cody Berry” and he or she was ours. Verity was very disgruntled and replied fiercely, “Yes, I do!” Mummy tried to put an end to the discussion by saying we would have pizza for dinner. Verity had a big smile on her face as her plan all along was to get Mummy to buy pizza.

When we sat and ate pizza for dinner, Verity could not help herself by saying, “Cody Berry would like this pizza!” Mummy replied with a, “Shhhhhsh!”

Tuesday

Mr. Boston had rearranged the room. We all sat in a circle, and he read us the story about the Pilgrims boarding the Mayflower to sail to North America. It was good to hear about American history. Mr. Boston then took the craft box and placed it in the middle of our circle. Mr. Boston showed us how to make a ship and the ocean, and we placed them on paper plates. Next, we made popsicle stick puppets and slid them into paper plates so we could move the puppets to look like passengers crossing the ocean. Some children found it difficult to glue the pieces together, and each time Mr. Boston would say, “The code is berry, you can do this!” We all smiled. 

In the afternoon we had a science and geography lesson that taught us where the American bison, bald eagle, grizzly bear, and beaver live. Some students huffed and puffed as they wanted to do more exciting things. Everyone else whispered, “Cody Berry!” Mr. Boston took out the craft box again and everyone cheered. He helped us make toilet roll beavers. We made a beaver dam together on our project table and placed our craft beavers with it. We all thought Miss Trees Are Green would be surprised when she would return to class to see our new project space.

Wednesday

Mr. Boston taught us about the White House, Statue of Liberty, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. He also placed a crate in the middle of the classroom. We sat in a circle around the crate, and Mr. Boston called it a “Soap Box.” We were all asked to stand on the crate and speak about anything for one minute. He told us about the history of the soap box and that it was important for people to be seen and heard. Some people were nervous to speak, and each time, Mr. Boston would say, “The code is berry, and you can do this!” The whole class would repeat, “Cody Berry!”

Thursday

We learned about Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack, and his giant ox named Babe. Mr. Boston got us to do some creative writing based on the characters. Mr. Boston said, “The code is berry, you can do this!” We all wrote short stories and shared them in the class. Mr. Boston had a very big smile when he heard our stories.

In the afternoon, Mr. Boston taught us about how a baker had run out of chocolate and had to break what was left of the chocolate into pieces. It seemed the pieces went into a cookie dough, and when the dough was baked, chocolate chip cookies were formed. Mr. Boston explained about our taste buds for science. The best part was when Mr. Boston took out a box of chocolate chip cookies. We all got to eat a cookie and used our taste buds.