Since Rico died, I have been extremely lazy about going to buy a new fish.

But Sunday night I was at the carnival, and there was a game where by throwing a ping pong ball into a fish bowl, you could win a goldfish.

I told the lady working the booth, “Oh, this is great! My class’s fish died, and I have been needing a new one!” We exchanged a short conversation about my classroom, and she was really rooting for me to win.

Sadly, I did not.

But as we were walking away, she pulled a coupon out of her pocket that said One Goldfish and said, “Here, before you leave, come back and pick up a fish. For the children.”

So at the end of the night, we went back, and she gave me not one, but FIVE goldfish for my classroom! Isn’t that so kind? I am really excited about it.

So yesterday I let each kid put one name into a jar, and I pulled out five winners.

My new fish are named:

Star

Yoshi

Foofy

Chocolate Coin

and Wario

Seriously, my students crack me up with their fish naming skills! Their creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Rico the fish, age 2 months, passed away Monday in Ms. Moore’s Resource classroom. Services were held Monday at 12:00pm in the faculty restroom. Rico was adopted from the College Station Wal-Mart in mid-August 2009 and lived out the rest of his days in a classroom in Grimes County, TX. He enjoyed listening to the morning announcements, rolling his r’s, and watching Hannah Montana. He was a caring friend and a great listener. He is survived by Moore, her two Instructional Assistants, three 4th grade students, eight 5th grade students, two custodians, and countless other loved ones. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Animal Savers Club would be greatly appreciated.

We have a class pet! He looks just like the fish in the picture. So today I took nominations for the fish’s name. Here is how the conversation went:

“Blue Fish!”

“Light Blue!”

“Blue!”

“Sky!”

(I would redirect their thinking…they were reeeally stuck on this blue thing…)

“Shark!”

“Little Shark!”

“Big Sharky!”

(another redirection…)

“Pretty!”

“Beautiful!”

“Butterfly!”

“Butterball!”

“Nemo!”

“Elmo!”

“Robin Hood!”

“Peppermint!”

“Pokey!”

“Happy!”

So…I narrowed it down, and tomorrow we will all vote. The fish will either be named…

Peppermint

or

Butterball

I am so excited. My students are great. I wish I could talk more about them without getting sued, but I would rather not go to special ed jail!