Charlie's Big Day

Today is a special day for one of my buddy's at the rescue.  Charlie Brown turned 13 today!

Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown!

3-6-14 Theo returns to school

Theodore decided to go with me to school again today.  He played the role of ambassador bunny by showing the kids the work it takes to care for a bunny.  We set up a playpen for him by my desk and the kids were able to observe him throughout the day.

During Daily 5 time, my reading groups enjoyed "reading to him" as his pen was right by our horseshoe table.  I think Theo loved being read to while eating hay or watching the kids from his hidey house.


 In writer's workshop, we have been learning about informative writing and it's different forms.  Theodore's visit allowed the students an opportunity to experience informative writing in a new way.   Their assignment was to write an observational journal entry about Theodore and what he was doing.  I allowed the kids to sit on the carpet with Theo in the middle.  Once they were supposed to begin writing, a few students were able to persuade me (with evidence of course ;) ) to let them write a fictional narrative about Theodore the Superhero bunny instead.  I will post some of their writing below.  Theo hopped around the carpet, sniffed the kids, jumped in/out of the litter box and climbed in my lap several times.  He even showed them that he can pretend to be a meerkat (stand on back feet and look around).  Theo definitely gave them plenty to write about during our 30 minute writing block.  Once workshop was over and it was time to line up for lunch, I had to put our guest back in his desk area.  He was none to happy with me and was sure to let me know with lots of sad stares while I ate my lunch.  Though, he had the attention of many teachers during our lunch break and even got a snuggle from one of them. ;)

After lunch, was a chance for a brain break where the students sang and danced for Theo.  Then our reading clinic time began.  During this time, small groups ( 4 kids) would come to the horseshoe table to read together.  This was naptime for Theo as he settled into his box for the stories and a snooze.  He stayed in his hidey box for almost the whole hour of clinic.  

Not too long into math, foster dad came and took the boy home.  You would think after such a long day (about 6 hours) surrounded by first graders, this little man would be exhausted.  NOPE! He was still full of energy at his regular nightly "play time".  He did ask for a little more snuggles than usual but they never lasted long.  

The kids informational and narrative writing 

Informational writing
Translation (as written by child except I cleaned up the spelling)-
 Theodore hopped to me (pedidme 2 tioshim ?) He is eating hay.  He is sitting in his pen. He is licking himself.  There are 3 kids petting him. I think he is staring at Mrs. Atherton. There are a teacher. He is staring at a kid. There is 1 kid petting him. Theodore looks like he Theodore is smelling his mom. He is sitting. He hopped out of his cage (no cage in room not sure what child was talking about). There he got put it up.

Narrative writing
Translation (as written by child except I cleaned up the spelling)-
Once upon a time there was one guy named Batman and Ironbun.  We were looking for criminals then one day we saw 10 bad guys rob a jewelry store. So me and Ironbun, me and him, flew down and beat them up but but then we were wrong. Me and Ironbun did not know what to do. We tried to think then we thought of a plan I jumped and he bust him then we won.

Narrative writing
Translation (as written by child except I cleaned up the spelling)-
Theo is superhero. Theo is super cute. I am going to write a story of him.  The super bunny named Theo. The super hero saves people and bunnies that are in trouble and are about to get ran over by a train or something else like a reindeer or Santa and sometimes we call him Ironbun and he saves a lot of people.

Informational writing
Translation (as written by child except I cleaned up the spelling)-
Theo is getting close to Logan and now he is eating. Now he got close up to Chase and he's eating again. Now, he got close to Josh and Terra and Caden petted him and he's just sitting there.  And now, he was next to Nathen and now he came near me and Daniel and Terra is petting Theo again. He's eating hay and he's still eating. He's not getting out and I want to pet him again. And Hailey said he was asleep. Daniel petted him again and now he's standing on his two feet and now he's staring at me. And Mrs. Baldini is petting him. Three kids were petting him and he jumped. Theo must like Nathen really bad. And Mrs. Atherton moved him and I petted him again. And 3 people petting him and they're still petting him. And a bunch of people were talking about poop and Mrs. Atherton might have to put him up at lunchtime. And I thought she's gonna put him back. He's sniffing his toy box and he got out of his litter box.  It's time to put him back now.

Damon's rescue visit (3/1/14)

Damon here, writing a guest post. April wasn't able to visit the rescue with me, so I took my Mom, who hadn't been in some time. Mom spent time with Charlie Brown, playing Scrabble and loving on him. Charlie enjoyed soaking up the attention as he always does. While Mom was keeping Charlie company, I had to spend a little time with my girl, Malani. Malani, despite her limitations and past health issues, hopped around the pen and investigated every corner. She would snuggle against my arm for a bit before making a few more laps around the pen. The main reason for the visit was so I could take portraits of the yard rabbits. The yard rabbits came to the rescue after a confiscation from a local meat breeder. Prior to the confiscation, they were found in deplorable living conditions - a muddy, fenced-in yard with no vegetation, minimal shelter and little to no food or water. 16 of these poor bunnies were brought to our rescue, and six of them are still in foster care - Vilthuril, Hawkbit, Acorn, Dandelion, Buckthorn and Rigel. These six bunnies were not very cooperative models! Once we got each of them out and ready for photos, they all just wanted to get away and go back "home" to their cages. I did manage to get some good photos of each of them. Hawkbit, Dandelion and Buckthorn seemed to be a little curious about the bright flash of light. Each time I'd snap a picture of one of them, they seemed to look at the light as if to say "Hey, what's this thing?" While each of the yard rabbits were not very playful and just wanted to get back "home," I enjoyed taking their pictures and getting to spend a little time with some different bunnies.

   

Dandelion                                  Hawkbit        

* Interesting Factoid- The "Yard Rabbits" are named after characters from the book, Watership Down.*

Updates

I have posted an article on monthly bunny health maintenance in the pages section.  The Toy Box page has also been updated with directions on how to create a homemade toy for your bunny.  Additionally, in the next couple of days, we will have a guest post by Damon about his more recent visit to the rescue.

This week is also "I Love to Read" Week which was kicked off today with Read Across America.  To celebrate this week, I always read lots of Dr. Seuss books to my students.  I am sad that I was unable to read our first day today because of a snow day. So, instead I read books with the twins.  My babies are voracious readers like their momma.  Enjoy this adorable picture of them reading a new book I recently bought them.

Featured Friend: Charlie Brown

Every couple of weeks I hope to share the story of one of the foster bunnies.  This week I have chosen a sweet old guy who claimed my heart the minute he came into rescue.

Mr. Charlie Brown

 

Background-

Charlie was in a home with a family for 10 years until the kids went off to college. Then he was given to a head start program where (we were told) the children under the age of 5 would torture him, we believe one way was to poke him with pencils.  This went on for about 2 years before someone took him home. He was then kept for a few months on their porch before turning Charlie over to the rescue. 

Health-

Charlie has splay  legs which is probably due to a birth defect.  He is also battling an enlarged heart with fluid building around it. He will remain on medication for his heart issues and this also means he's anemic. Poor Charlie's troubles continue as he was recently diagnosed with having 3 parasites.  We believe this would account for his loss and inability to gain weight even though he eats all the time.  A mass has also been discovered on his liver.

Personality-

Despite all his health concerns, Charlie craves attention and enjoys snuggling with people. His favorite activity is to snuggle with his foster mom while she plays Scrabble on her Kindle.

My experience with Charlie- Charlie is a lover, hence how easily he has stolen my heart.  He will come over and snuggle with me when I put him in the playpen. Charlie rests his  head on my arm due to his splay legs which keeps him from being able to hold his head up for long periods. He will then quickly fall fast asleep.  One of my absolute favorite things in life is a bunny falling asleep in my arms.  It is such a rewarding and peaceful moment to know they trust you enough to go to sleep.  That is a true sign of that a bunny loves you.  Especially for a bunny who has been through so much in his life to feel that safe around people.  Charlie is a gentile old man who has been through a lot in his 12 years.  His 13th birthday will be March 20th.   We hope he continues to progress so we can throw him a big celebration. He deserves it!  

A busy day at the rescue

Today was a busy day at the rescue with lots of volunteers helping the foster bunnies.  From this rabbit educator's perspective, this was a beautiful sight and so many things happened today to brighten these dear rabbits' lives.  We were even lucky enough to have a couple of teenage volunteers who came and made toys for the fosters.  I will post pictures and more details on the "Toy Box" page soon. With several volunteers there today many of the rabbits were able to play and get socialization time.  These bunnies were lucky enough to enjoy the company of caring humans today: Charlie Brown, Malani, the sisters (Esme and Gytha), Dallas, Pepper Potts, Honey Bunny, Gyro, Rumpke, and Owena.  I did fail to get pictures of these socialization sessions because I was either with a rabbit or gathering additional information for the blog.  I promise to take more photographs at future visits.

Today I was able to spend time with a couple of bunnies by myself.  Of course, as soon as I got there I tried to snuggle with Mr. Charlie Brown but he was not feeling it today.  Even after Mary putting him right next to me, he promptly turned an hopped away.  My best guess is that he was upset that I was playing Boggle on my iPad and not Scrabble.  He LOVES to snuggle while people are playing Scrabble and I messed up his routine. I was a bad bunny friend.  Though, I did redeem myself later by attempting to snuggle with him on the couch.  Damon tried to get Charlie to come to him because he was playing Words, but Charlie proudly came to me.  We snuggled about 25 minutes on the couch. He slept peacefully as I carefully rubbed his head.  More information will be posted about Charlie Brown soon as he will be my featured friend this week.

Charlie Brown and I snuggling on the couch. 

I was also able to sit by Gyro's pen and rub her head for quite a while today.  Gyro is a bit of an "odd bird" but we love her for that.  As a baby she would almost always lay upside down like she didn't have an internal gyroscope (hence the name, Gyro). Now, as nearly a "teen" (in bunny years, of course) she still has some silly antics.  Gyro is definitely showing signs of becoming a people bunny but wants NOTHING to do with her siblings.  In the past, she has mildly injured two sisters when they got too close to her pen during playtime.  Though, she gets all of her energy and attitude honestly from her mother, Cleo, as my friend Andrea can attest.  ;) And to be honest... she's always been my favorite of Cleo's babies. Shhh! Please don't tell the others. :)

Miss Gyro 

More pictures from days visit will be added soon. Waiting for my photographer to finish his day job first before he can start on my "to do" list. 

Welcome to my blog!

I have been a bunny mom since 2005 and am currently a bunny mom to three. Recently, I became an educator for the House Rabbit Society and have been volunteering for a local rescue for almost 5 years now.  When I'm not caring for bunnies, I am following my first passion as a primary teacher.  I am a self -proclaimed geek who loves to learn and teach/help others. So, no surprise that I spend most of my time teaching/learning from my students and the bunnies in my life.  

My plan for this blog is that it is a place for learning about and celebrating in the joys of house rabbits.  I will post lots of fun stories, pictures, moments of the lives of house rabbits as well as educational information.  I am by no means a rabbit expert and am learning as I go. If you're interested in learning more about house rabbits, I encourage you to visit the House Rabbit Society website (www.rabbit.org).  

I hope you enjoy reading future posts about our bunny babies, Mo, Louie, and Theo, too, as well as posts about other things bunny related.  

So, for visiting our page and saying hello, here's some cuteness to make you smile.  Welcome, new friend!