Madagascar Morning Meeting: Three's a Charm

Greeting:

Bonjour (they speak French here too, not just Malagasy). Thanks for joining me for another Madagascar Morning Meeting. The rainy season is starting on the island, so most afternoons we get a little sprinkle and the temperature is warming up too. I bet it is not warming up in New Jersey is it? It's cooling down. Different ends of the world; different seasons.

Well, enough of me greeting you. It's time for you to greet each other. This time we will do a Malagasy Taxi Greeting. Our city, Antananarivo, is a loud place. There are lots of old and beat up cars, lots of squealing scooters and lots of roaring motorcycles. And everyone likes to honk their horns.

So, one person goes first. Turn to a neighbor, tap on her shoulder and give a "honk." That person will give a "honk" back and then pass the tap and the "honk" on to her neighbor. After you "honk" your neighbor, keep "honking" to yourself. It should end up nice and loud, but that is a bit of what our city is like just with a lot of smoke and smog too.

If you want an extra challenge, try this:

When the first person, who should still be "honking," gets tapped on the shoulder by the last person, she should stop honking and pass the shoulder tap on to the next person. Stop honking after you have had your shoulder tapped that second time. If it works, it should get quieter and quieter until everyone has been tapped again and all is quiet.

Activity:

Here's a simply one for all you budding primatologists (scientists who study monkeys and the like). Divide the class into two teams for the game. Then click on the link below to face off against each other in a lemur quiz. Good luck.

Click to Take Lemur Quiz

Sharing:

Scroll on down the page to find a post that tickles your fancy. The post just below this one is a sad, sad little story about the wonderfully weird life of parasitic wasps. Ask your teacher to use her best over-the-top read aloud voice. I recommend that post, but feel free to try something else too. If you want to make Mr. Lebo very happy, ask your teacher to please leave a comment after you read.

Try saying to her, "Just think how sad Mr. Lebo will be if we don't leave a comment, Mrs. [your teacher's name]. He will be like a tiny sad wet puppy with no bone to chew."

Just click on the word "comment" at the bottom of the post and away you go. Don't forget to say who you are.

Goodbye:

Thank you so much for stopping by. I wish I could be there to see you in person, but New Jersey is very, very far away Madagascar. But guess what! It won't be for long. Well, not quite. I guess Madagascar will still be very, very far away, but I won't be. In December, I will be flying on over to say hello and visit. We can have a Morning Meeting in person.

There will be special movie night on December 4th for us to watch Madagascar the movie and then learn a bit about the real Madagascar. The all the next week, I will be back at school to teach again in the science lab. And the week after that I will be back on a plane for the 9,000 mile trip back to the Red Island.

I can't wait to see you all.

Take care.