Year of the Rat!

Posted by Matthew McEwen

There is a bit of a rat problem in school...mostly in my classroom. The bearers (bearers=janitors) at school first tried to catch the rats using carpenters glue that they spread out on a board around cookies and soap (the most recent snack of choice for these rats). The rats walked right through it, ate the bait, and continued walking across the glue. I think they are more like cats than rats. Most recently they've switched to snappy traps and have caught 4 (yes 4...in my room!!) so far with this method. This afternoon one of my students quietly came to me and said in a very soft voice "I saw a rat" Another student spoke up as well "I saw something very dangerous!". (We are talking about how our senses keep us safe...he must be picking it up!) We shuffled the kids out of the room as the bearers checked for the rat....by this time it was long gone. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I prefer cockroaches to rats skittering across the classroom floor. Yikes!
So it's more traps tonight.