June 16, 2025 • 19 mins
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In this silly story, a new student arrives at what appears to be a completely ordinary school—brick walls, classrooms, even a staff room with donuts. But once the day begins, things take a turn. Rules seem reversed. Manners are frowned upon. And good behavior might just get you into trouble. As the days go by, the strangest part isn't the school itself—it's how quickly everything starts to feel... normal.
Warning: this goofy story for kids may result in smiles, snorts, and possibly some LOLs. Listen at your own discretion.
To see if the shout-out list is open, visit: lolstorytime.com/shoutouts
Visit lolstorytime.com for merch and other... stuff.
In this silly story, a new student arrives at what appears to be a completely ordinary school—brick walls, classrooms, even a staff room with donuts. But once the day begins, things take a turn. Rules seem reversed. Manners are frowned upon. And good behavior might just get you into trouble. As the days go by, the strangest part isn't the school itself—it's how quickly everything starts to feel... normal.
Warning: this goofy story for kids may result in smiles, snorts, and possibly some LOLs. Listen at your own discretion.
To see if the shout-out list is open, visit: lolstorytime.com/shoutouts
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hellel story Times really not a boring time. Rabbis, stand
and you'll be fine. Follow the whole storyline. Hellol story Time,
might you love at least one time? Welcome back to
the show. This is Lool story Time, and today I've
got a new story called Backwards Elementary. This one features
characters named after listeners Isabella and Kitty. But before we
(00:24):
jump in, a quick shout out to the following listeners,
Ava from Wisconsin, Teddy and Remy from Maryland, William, Charlie
and Cecily from Los Angeles, Luke, Jack and Lucy from Tacoma, Washington,
Scarlett Chen from Massachusetts, Maddie and Max from New Jersey, Carson,
Taufer and Ivy from Arkansas, Paxton Daring from Ridgefield, Connecticut,
(00:47):
Graham and Charlotte from Maine, and Lily, Liam and Ford
from Hawaii. More shut outs next time. But for now,
let's get into the story. This is the story of
a very strange and unusual school. Now, I know some
(01:10):
of you are gonna say, aren't all schools strange and unusual?
But this one, well, let's just say this one was
a little bit backwards. Isabella never would have guessed her
new school was strange and unusual. From the outside, it
looked like all the other schools she'd seen, you know, doors, windows, bricks,
all the usual stuff, if you even had the words
(01:30):
school written in big letters above the main entrance, As
if it wasn't already painfully obvious what this building was for.
No one looks at a school building and thinks, huh,
I wonder if they sell groceries there. From the back
seat of her parents' car, Isabella studied the unfamiliar faces
of the children walking into the school. She wondered which
ones might become her new friends. All right, Isabel, dear off,
(01:54):
you go now, and don't worry. You're gonna do great.
It'll be just like your last school. Everything will be okay,
just peachy squeechye. Isabella wasn't so sure. She mostly wasn't
sure what peachey squeechy meant. We can walk you in
if you like, offered her dad. We can walk you
right to your classroom and then give you a loud
(02:15):
kiss on the cheek, followed by a loud kiss on
your forehead, followed by an extra loud kiss on the
top of your head. It'll sound like this, and then
we can give you one of those hugs that lasts
way too long while all of your new classmates just
sit and watch. Isabella was suddenly feeling some courage. Yeah,
I think it'd be better if I just go on
(02:36):
my own, she answered, You guys probably still have a
lot of unpacking to do at the new house. Isabella's
mom turned toward the back seat. I'm just hoping to
keep your dad away from the empty boxes. Remember that
time he spent two hours making himself look like a
cardboard robot. Some people never grow up. As she began
making her way toward the main entrance, Isabella reminisced about
(02:59):
her old school. At her old school, Isabella was very
well liked. It was such a positive school where everyone
just seemed to get along. Perhaps it had something to
do with the awards. If there was anything strange and
unusual to say about her old school, it was the
huge number of awards they gave out. They were constantly
acknowledging and recognizing and celebrating well everything. If you worked
(03:20):
hard on a project, well there was a good chance
you were getting an award for that. Help somebody out
with something, literally anything, then be prepared to receive the
Helpfulness Award, Pay someone a compliment, Kindness Award, a Please
and Thank You Manner's Award, Help her mind a preschool
student that you're supposed to keep her pants on at
school Good Samaritan Award. Staff and teachers were handing out
(03:43):
awards like they were hotcakes. One time, a student brought
in a pet turtle show Isabella's class. Guys, I can't
believe it. Someone just handed me the show your turtle
at school award. I always knew I might win that
award some day, I just never believed it would be today.
It just doesn't feel real. Although Isabella knew her new
(04:04):
school likely wouldn't hand out half as many awards, she
just hoped her new school would have at least a
similar culture of kindness, because today, of all days, she
really needed some kindness. As she approached the main doors,
not one person held the door open for her. But
that was okay, And it was also okay that there
was no welcoming committee ready to greet her on the
other side of the doors. That would probably have been embarrassing,
(04:28):
and she didn't need anyone to give her a tour
of the building. She could figure all that out on
her own, but she did need someone to give her
directions to her classroom. Isabella tried asking someone who looked
at me about her age. Hi, excuse me, can you
tell me which way is Miss Squibblebobin's classroom. The kid
looked like he wanted to keep on walking well, pretending
he didn't hear the question, but then he stopped and
(04:50):
kindly gave her some very clear directions. Isabella thanked the
boy and went on her way. While walking past a
group of younger students, Isabella noticed that one had dropped
her book, so Isabella stopped to pick it up and
hand it back to the girl. The girl didn't say anything.
Ah huh, she's too shy to say thank you, thought Isabella.
(05:11):
She was also half expecting to see a teacher pop
up in front of her and hand her a kindness award,
but then she reminded herself that this was not her
old school and that was okay. Isabella eventually arrived where
the boy had told her to go. She had followed
his directions perfectly. Down the main hall, turned left just
before the gymnasium, then turn right down the next hallway,
(05:31):
and then her classroom was to be the third room.
On the left. Well, the third room on the left
was not miss Gwibblebobin's room. This was the teacher's lounge. Hey,
no kids allowed in here. Scream beat it, get out
of here, and keep your eyes off the coffee and donuts.
Those are ours. It seemed a little odd that the
student had given her the wrong directions. Then when she
(05:54):
eventually found her classroom, she was met with a not
so friendly reception. Oh no, oh, Miss Squibblebobbins, do we
seriously have a new student joining the class today? I
don't like new kids. New kids are always just so new.
Can't we trade her for an old kid? Isabella was stunned,
(06:15):
not so much by what the kid had said, but
by how her teacher didn't seem to care about what
the kid had said. And later on, when another kid
called her a toaster her face stink muffin, no one
seemed to care about that either. She had no idea
what a toast her face stink muffin was, but she
knew she didn't like it, and she definitely didn't like
having some random first grader come up to her at
recess and pinch her for no reason. Take that, you
(06:37):
toast her face stink muffin. When Isabella's parents picked her
up from school later that day, she had to think
really hard of something nice to say. Well, the teacher's
lounge had an impressive selection of doughnuts, and the washroom
seemed pretty clean. Toilet paper was soft and fluffy, but
also strong and durable at the same time. Don't worry,
(06:58):
Isabella said, her first day is gonna be like that.
Trust me, tomorrow will be better. Isabella wasn't convinced, especially
after someone gave her a shove the next day because
she had smiled at them. Then someone kicked her in
the knee while calling her another strange but means sounding name,
a hairy egg salad Dodo snuff. But it wasn't until
(07:19):
she got in trouble that she realized, yeah, this day
is probably not getting any better. All she had done
was telegirl that she liked her shoes while helping her
pick up a pencil from the floor. The other girl
did not look pleased. What was that for? Is a
smell a smella, Miss squibb and bob oh okay to
help me when I dropped my pantcil. This seemed like
(07:42):
the most absurd reason to tell on someone. But surely
miss Squibblebobmins would think so too, is a belle. I
cannot believe you would do such a thing. Is this true?
Isabella wondered if Miss Squibblebobins just had a funny sounding
happy voice, But after being sent to the principal's office
a moment later, she knew the answer, not a happy voice. Isabella,
(08:05):
please have a seat. I'm the principal here at Bogsworth Elementary,
and I'm just gonna get straight to it. I've been
hearing some things about you, the kinds of things I
don't like hearing about my students. Is it true you've
been doing some pretty nice things for others? Is it
true you've even been perhaps a little bit helpful. Isabella
was lost for words. All she could do was nod
(08:27):
her head. Interesting and now here, you are telling the truth,
Isabella thought back on the time she had received an
award for telling the truth. Let me first say, those
types of antics don't fly around here. They don't fly
because they don't have wings. And if they did have wings,
well they'd be more like the penguin kind of wings,
you know, not very good for flying. So I'm gonna
(08:50):
need you to go ahead and stop being a penguin
and start being more like Rav Davies. I'm on my
way to see Rav right now. That boy is getting
an award. Isabella was prize the school even knew what
an award was. Rav just laughed really hard at another
student for trying to give a presentation in front of
the whole class. He even pretended to fall asleep and
(09:10):
make really loud snoring sounds. Isn't that wonderful? So you see,
be more like Rav? Did this guy just use the
word wonderful to describe such rude and terrible behavior? What
was wrong with this school? For the rest of the afternoon,
Isabella sat at her desk, arms folded, not looking or
saying anything to anyone. She didn't even look up when
(09:32):
her teacher asked her a question. Isabella, did you hear me?
I asked you something? Isabella ignored her. Isabella answer the question.
All she wanted to do was run away. Her teacher
repeated the question again. Isabella looked up, scowled, and said,
I don't care about your question. Your questions stink. Isabella
(09:56):
had never spoken to a teacher this way in her life,
and almost instantly she wished she could take the words back.
She wanted so badly to politely answer the question like
she always did at her old school. But before she
could apologize, Miss Squibblebobins walked over to Isabella and handed
her something. When she looked down at what it was,
she could not believe her eyes. It was an award.
(10:17):
How had she won an award at this school? Isabella
read what was written on the fancy piece of paper,
the award for excellence in not caring. Isabella had received
plenty of awards for caring, but never once had she
received an award for not caring. Seemed like a pretty
weird thing to get an award for, and yet it
felt nice that her teacher had recognized her for doing something. Well.
(10:39):
Perhaps the second day of school hadn't been so bad
after all. On day three, she got pushed, tripped, and
had someone tape a sign to her back that said
kick me. But then Isabella got to call someone a
squirrely tod dippen'meier. When asked what a squirrely toad Dippenmeyer was,
Isabella admitted that she did not know. Name calling was
still very new to her, but it didn't matter because
(11:02):
another teacher at the school overheard what she had said
and gave her an award for creative name calling. The
next day, Isabella came home with two more awards, and
by the end of the first week of school, she
had received over ten special awards. Your principal called us today, Dear.
He says, you're starting to really fit in at your
new school. He told us, you've already won some awards. Isabella,
(11:25):
that is just wonderful news. We knew you would do
well at your new school, and we are just so
proud of you. Isabella's dad then asked if she would
like to put any of her awards on the fridge,
Remembering that her latest award was for yelling and during
silent reading, she decided it might be best to keep her
awards tucked away in her room, perhaps under a dirty
pile of laundry. By the end of the first month,
(11:48):
Bogsworth Elementary School was beginning to feel like her school,
a place where she belonged, a place where she was
no different than anyone else. She knew what the teachers expected,
and she did not disappoint. By now, she was well
on her way to becoming one of their top students.
But then one day something unexpected happened. Isabella dropped her
(12:08):
pencil and someone picked it up for her. Oh here,
I think you dropped this, said a girl. Isabella did
not recognize. I'm new here. My name is Kitty. What's
your name? Isabella didn't answer right away. She just looked
at the pencil the girl had given her. Isabella almost
said thank you, but fortunately she caught herself in time.
(12:29):
That's when she threw the pencil back down to the ground.
Kitty looked confused. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you
wanted to keep it there. My bad. Isabella then started
meowing at the new girl until she walked away. All
week long, Isabella stood by while everyone gave Kitty the
mean treatment. People were being so rude, and Kitty had
(12:51):
no clue why. It was a feeling, Isabella remembered all
too well. Someone needed to say something, so, Kitty, you
may have noticed we do things a little differently here
at Boxworth Elementary, Isabella told the girl differently, Kitty echoed,
questioning Isabella's choice of words. The school should be called
backwards elementary. If you ask me, everyone here just keeps
(13:14):
doing the opposite of what they should be doing. Isabella shrugged. Well,
who's to say what we should or shouldn't be doing?
Am I right? If what we're doing is getting awards,
then it seems like we're doing something right. Kitty told
Isabella that she liked the necklace she had on. Ah,
a compliment. You can't say stuff like that here. Just then,
(13:35):
Isabella noticed a teacher was about to walk by. Quick
call me a name, A mean one. Kitty tried to
think of something. Uh, oh, all right, then you uh
banana who won't peel? Hmmm, not exactly what Isabella had
meant by mean. This girl was gonna need some work,
but apparently it was good enough for the teacher, who
handed Kitty her very first award. Oh yeah, cried Isabella.
(14:01):
But Kitty just tossed the award in the garbage. I
don't really care about awards, but thanks for your help. Oops.
She had just helped this girl. She wasn't supposed to
help anyone, And to make matters worse, she accidentally responded
with you are welcome, before quickly correcting herself. Oops, I
didn't mean to say that. What I should have said
is that you are welcome to sniff a skunks, but
(14:23):
if you want, Kitty asked if Isabella had always been
this rude. Of course not. I used to be super
nice like you. But I'm getting better at this every
day and you will too, don't worry. But over the
days that followed, Isabella realized Kitty was not getting better
at this. She never saw Kitty pinch anyone, She never
heard her call anyone any names. Kitty just kept on
(14:45):
being nice to people. She didn't even seem to care
that she kept getting sent to the principal's office. Isabella
desperately wanted to help this poor girl without actually helping,
of course, helping bad. But whatever non helpful things she tried,
she just not get Kitty to change. Kitty just kept
on being Kitty. Then one day, Kitty did a small
(15:07):
thing that to Isabella felt like something big. She didn't
yell in her face, or give her a wedgie or
call her a filthy snarflogger. All she did was hand
Isabella a piece of paper, and on that paper were
the words award for being a friend. It looked nothing
like any of the other awards she had received for starters.
(15:27):
This one had been sloppily written on a crinkled piece
of paper pulled out of the recycling bin. Kitty had
practically scribbled the words down with a brown cran, making
it look quite awful to be honest. But when Isabella
got home that day, she put the award on her fridge.
She stood back and proudly admired her latest award. It
may have been an award for being a friend, but
Isabella could not wait to show this girl just how
(15:49):
good of a friend she could be. This girl hadn't
seen anything yet. Isabella could be a really good friend. Well.
The next day, in front of the whole entire class,
Isabella gave Kitty a hug. It was the kind of
hug that lasts way too long while everyone just awkwardly stares.
Both girls got sent to the office for that. Ah shishkabobs.
(16:09):
You girls are back, is Abella. I thought you were
doing a lot better. Please tell me the girl with
the cat name forced you into this. The girl sat
down on the two empty chairs in front of the
principal's desk. Next, they handed the principal a piece of paper.
What is this? What are you giving me? The principal
tried to read what it said. I can't make the
words out on this What does it say looks like
(16:31):
a baby try to write something with a brown crayon.
Isabella read the words out loud. It says, this is
the award for a good principal who cares about his school.
Kitty shuffled herself in her seat. We know you might
not always care about the right things, but we can
tell you still care. You want this to be a
good school, even if it's a little bit m backwards.
(16:54):
The principal didn't say anything for a long time, and
then he spoke, you, uh think I'm a good principal.
We think there's a good principle in there somewhere, answered Kitty.
You know no one who's ever told me that before.
Years ago, when I first became principal, I tried really hard.
(17:14):
I wanted to be the best principal there ever was.
I enforced the rules, I made sure everything ran smoothly.
You'd never have seen anyone run in my hallways. But
all people ever said about me was, oh, here comes mean,
old mister grumpy pants. Eventually I decided if being mean
was what it takes to have a successful school, then
well maybe we'd all be better off being mean. I
(17:35):
began handing out awards anytime I saw something mean happen.
Pretty soon, I wasn't mean, old mister grumpy pants. I
was just like everyone else. Now, it was the girls
starting to sit quietly while they thought about what the
principal had said. But that's the thing, sir, you were
a good principle all along. You weren't being mean. You
were just making sure everyone followed the rules. You were
(17:57):
keeping your school safe. Kids just say stuff like that.
Sometimes I called my parents mean just because they wouldn't
let me have cake for supper. You're doing a great job, sir.
You can be kind and helpful and still have a
great school. The principal sat up a little straighter and
took another look at his award. But you know, I
could be doing a really great job if you think
(18:17):
I'm an okay principle. Now, oh, just wait, mean old
mister grum grabbed a stack of blank award certificates and
began writing on them. Award for helping, award for sharing,
award for being polite, Award for kindness. He then looked
up at Isabella and kiddy, Thank you. Girls. Things are
(18:39):
going to be a lot different around here from now.
On and I owe it all to you, foul smelling
diaper heads. Sir. Ooops, that's right. Not a very kind
thing to say, was it. I'm still working on this,
Isabella smiled. Don't worry, sir. I'm getting better at this
every day and you will too the end. That's the story.
(19:07):
And here is your question of the week. What is
something your school does that you find a little bit strange.
Every school has got something anyway. That's all for now.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Hellel story Times really not a boring time. Rabbis, stand
and you'll be fine. Follow the whole storyline. Hellol story Time,
might you love at least one time? Welcome back to
the show. This is Lool story Time, and today I've
got a new story called Backwards Elementary. This one features
characters named after listeners Isabella and Kitty. But before we
(00:24):
jump in, a quick shout out to the following listeners,
Ava from Wisconsin, Teddy and Remy from Maryland, William, Charlie
and Cecily from Los Angeles, Luke, Jack and Lucy from Tacoma, Washington,
Scarlett Chen from Massachusetts, Maddie and Max from New Jersey, Carson,
Taufer and Ivy from Arkansas, Paxton Daring from Ridgefield, Connecticut,
(00:47):
Graham and Charlotte from Maine, and Lily, Liam and Ford
from Hawaii. More shut outs next time. But for now,
let's get into the story. This is the story of
a very strange and unusual school. Now, I know some
(01:10):
of you are gonna say, aren't all schools strange and unusual?
But this one, well, let's just say this one was
a little bit backwards. Isabella never would have guessed her
new school was strange and unusual. From the outside, it
looked like all the other schools she'd seen, you know, doors, windows, bricks,
all the usual stuff, if you even had the words
(01:30):
school written in big letters above the main entrance, As
if it wasn't already painfully obvious what this building was for.
No one looks at a school building and thinks, huh,
I wonder if they sell groceries there. From the back
seat of her parents' car, Isabella studied the unfamiliar faces
of the children walking into the school. She wondered which
ones might become her new friends. All right, Isabel, dear off,
(01:54):
you go now, and don't worry. You're gonna do great.
It'll be just like your last school. Everything will be okay,
just peachy squeechye. Isabella wasn't so sure. She mostly wasn't
sure what peachey squeechy meant. We can walk you in
if you like, offered her dad. We can walk you
right to your classroom and then give you a loud
(02:15):
kiss on the cheek, followed by a loud kiss on
your forehead, followed by an extra loud kiss on the
top of your head. It'll sound like this, and then
we can give you one of those hugs that lasts
way too long while all of your new classmates just
sit and watch. Isabella was suddenly feeling some courage. Yeah,
I think it'd be better if I just go on
(02:36):
my own, she answered, You guys probably still have a
lot of unpacking to do at the new house. Isabella's
mom turned toward the back seat. I'm just hoping to
keep your dad away from the empty boxes. Remember that
time he spent two hours making himself look like a
cardboard robot. Some people never grow up. As she began
making her way toward the main entrance, Isabella reminisced about
(02:59):
her old school. At her old school, Isabella was very
well liked. It was such a positive school where everyone
just seemed to get along. Perhaps it had something to
do with the awards. If there was anything strange and
unusual to say about her old school, it was the
huge number of awards they gave out. They were constantly
acknowledging and recognizing and celebrating well everything. If you worked
(03:20):
hard on a project, well there was a good chance
you were getting an award for that. Help somebody out
with something, literally anything, then be prepared to receive the
Helpfulness Award, Pay someone a compliment, Kindness Award, a Please
and Thank You Manner's Award, Help her mind a preschool
student that you're supposed to keep her pants on at
school Good Samaritan Award. Staff and teachers were handing out
(03:43):
awards like they were hotcakes. One time, a student brought
in a pet turtle show Isabella's class. Guys, I can't
believe it. Someone just handed me the show your turtle
at school award. I always knew I might win that
award some day, I just never believed it would be today.
It just doesn't feel real. Although Isabella knew her new
(04:04):
school likely wouldn't hand out half as many awards, she
just hoped her new school would have at least a
similar culture of kindness, because today, of all days, she
really needed some kindness. As she approached the main doors,
not one person held the door open for her. But
that was okay, And it was also okay that there
was no welcoming committee ready to greet her on the
other side of the doors. That would probably have been embarrassing,
(04:28):
and she didn't need anyone to give her a tour
of the building. She could figure all that out on
her own, but she did need someone to give her
directions to her classroom. Isabella tried asking someone who looked
at me about her age. Hi, excuse me, can you
tell me which way is Miss Squibblebobin's classroom. The kid
looked like he wanted to keep on walking well, pretending
he didn't hear the question, but then he stopped and
(04:50):
kindly gave her some very clear directions. Isabella thanked the
boy and went on her way. While walking past a
group of younger students, Isabella noticed that one had dropped
her book, so Isabella stopped to pick it up and
hand it back to the girl. The girl didn't say anything.
Ah huh, she's too shy to say thank you, thought Isabella.
(05:11):
She was also half expecting to see a teacher pop
up in front of her and hand her a kindness award,
but then she reminded herself that this was not her
old school and that was okay. Isabella eventually arrived where
the boy had told her to go. She had followed
his directions perfectly. Down the main hall, turned left just
before the gymnasium, then turn right down the next hallway,
(05:31):
and then her classroom was to be the third room.
On the left. Well, the third room on the left
was not miss Gwibblebobin's room. This was the teacher's lounge. Hey,
no kids allowed in here. Scream beat it, get out
of here, and keep your eyes off the coffee and donuts.
Those are ours. It seemed a little odd that the
student had given her the wrong directions. Then when she
(05:54):
eventually found her classroom, she was met with a not
so friendly reception. Oh no, oh, Miss Squibblebobbins, do we
seriously have a new student joining the class today? I
don't like new kids. New kids are always just so new.
Can't we trade her for an old kid? Isabella was stunned,
(06:15):
not so much by what the kid had said, but
by how her teacher didn't seem to care about what
the kid had said. And later on, when another kid
called her a toaster her face stink muffin, no one
seemed to care about that either. She had no idea
what a toast her face stink muffin was, but she
knew she didn't like it, and she definitely didn't like
having some random first grader come up to her at
recess and pinch her for no reason. Take that, you
(06:37):
toast her face stink muffin. When Isabella's parents picked her
up from school later that day, she had to think
really hard of something nice to say. Well, the teacher's
lounge had an impressive selection of doughnuts, and the washroom
seemed pretty clean. Toilet paper was soft and fluffy, but
also strong and durable at the same time. Don't worry,
(06:58):
Isabella said, her first day is gonna be like that.
Trust me, tomorrow will be better. Isabella wasn't convinced, especially
after someone gave her a shove the next day because
she had smiled at them. Then someone kicked her in
the knee while calling her another strange but means sounding name,
a hairy egg salad Dodo snuff. But it wasn't until
(07:19):
she got in trouble that she realized, yeah, this day
is probably not getting any better. All she had done
was telegirl that she liked her shoes while helping her
pick up a pencil from the floor. The other girl
did not look pleased. What was that for? Is a
smell a smella, Miss squibb and bob oh okay to
help me when I dropped my pantcil. This seemed like
(07:42):
the most absurd reason to tell on someone. But surely
miss Squibblebobmins would think so too, is a belle. I
cannot believe you would do such a thing. Is this true?
Isabella wondered if Miss Squibblebobins just had a funny sounding
happy voice, But after being sent to the principal's office
a moment later, she knew the answer, not a happy voice. Isabella,
(08:05):
please have a seat. I'm the principal here at Bogsworth Elementary,
and I'm just gonna get straight to it. I've been
hearing some things about you, the kinds of things I
don't like hearing about my students. Is it true you've
been doing some pretty nice things for others? Is it
true you've even been perhaps a little bit helpful. Isabella
was lost for words. All she could do was nod
(08:27):
her head. Interesting and now here, you are telling the truth,
Isabella thought back on the time she had received an
award for telling the truth. Let me first say, those
types of antics don't fly around here. They don't fly
because they don't have wings. And if they did have wings,
well they'd be more like the penguin kind of wings,
you know, not very good for flying. So I'm gonna
(08:50):
need you to go ahead and stop being a penguin
and start being more like Rav Davies. I'm on my
way to see Rav right now. That boy is getting
an award. Isabella was prize the school even knew what
an award was. Rav just laughed really hard at another
student for trying to give a presentation in front of
the whole class. He even pretended to fall asleep and
(09:10):
make really loud snoring sounds. Isn't that wonderful? So you see,
be more like Rav? Did this guy just use the
word wonderful to describe such rude and terrible behavior? What
was wrong with this school? For the rest of the afternoon,
Isabella sat at her desk, arms folded, not looking or
saying anything to anyone. She didn't even look up when
(09:32):
her teacher asked her a question. Isabella, did you hear me?
I asked you something? Isabella ignored her. Isabella answer the question.
All she wanted to do was run away. Her teacher
repeated the question again. Isabella looked up, scowled, and said,
I don't care about your question. Your questions stink. Isabella
(09:56):
had never spoken to a teacher this way in her life,
and almost instantly she wished she could take the words back.
She wanted so badly to politely answer the question like
she always did at her old school. But before she
could apologize, Miss Squibblebobins walked over to Isabella and handed
her something. When she looked down at what it was,
she could not believe her eyes. It was an award.
(10:17):
How had she won an award at this school? Isabella
read what was written on the fancy piece of paper,
the award for excellence in not caring. Isabella had received
plenty of awards for caring, but never once had she
received an award for not caring. Seemed like a pretty
weird thing to get an award for, and yet it
felt nice that her teacher had recognized her for doing something. Well.
(10:39):
Perhaps the second day of school hadn't been so bad
after all. On day three, she got pushed, tripped, and
had someone tape a sign to her back that said
kick me. But then Isabella got to call someone a
squirrely tod dippen'meier. When asked what a squirrely toad Dippenmeyer was,
Isabella admitted that she did not know. Name calling was
still very new to her, but it didn't matter because
(11:02):
another teacher at the school overheard what she had said
and gave her an award for creative name calling. The
next day, Isabella came home with two more awards, and
by the end of the first week of school, she
had received over ten special awards. Your principal called us today, Dear.
He says, you're starting to really fit in at your
new school. He told us, you've already won some awards. Isabella,
(11:25):
that is just wonderful news. We knew you would do
well at your new school, and we are just so
proud of you. Isabella's dad then asked if she would
like to put any of her awards on the fridge,
Remembering that her latest award was for yelling and during
silent reading, she decided it might be best to keep her
awards tucked away in her room, perhaps under a dirty
pile of laundry. By the end of the first month,
(11:48):
Bogsworth Elementary School was beginning to feel like her school,
a place where she belonged, a place where she was
no different than anyone else. She knew what the teachers expected,
and she did not disappoint. By now, she was well
on her way to becoming one of their top students.
But then one day something unexpected happened. Isabella dropped her
(12:08):
pencil and someone picked it up for her. Oh here,
I think you dropped this, said a girl. Isabella did
not recognize. I'm new here. My name is Kitty. What's
your name? Isabella didn't answer right away. She just looked
at the pencil the girl had given her. Isabella almost
said thank you, but fortunately she caught herself in time.
(12:29):
That's when she threw the pencil back down to the ground.
Kitty looked confused. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you
wanted to keep it there. My bad. Isabella then started
meowing at the new girl until she walked away. All
week long, Isabella stood by while everyone gave Kitty the
mean treatment. People were being so rude, and Kitty had
(12:51):
no clue why. It was a feeling, Isabella remembered all
too well. Someone needed to say something, so, Kitty, you
may have noticed we do things a little differently here
at Boxworth Elementary, Isabella told the girl differently, Kitty echoed,
questioning Isabella's choice of words. The school should be called
backwards elementary. If you ask me, everyone here just keeps
(13:14):
doing the opposite of what they should be doing. Isabella shrugged. Well,
who's to say what we should or shouldn't be doing?
Am I right? If what we're doing is getting awards,
then it seems like we're doing something right. Kitty told
Isabella that she liked the necklace she had on. Ah,
a compliment. You can't say stuff like that here. Just then,
(13:35):
Isabella noticed a teacher was about to walk by. Quick
call me a name, A mean one. Kitty tried to
think of something. Uh, oh, all right, then you uh
banana who won't peel? Hmmm, not exactly what Isabella had
meant by mean. This girl was gonna need some work,
but apparently it was good enough for the teacher, who
handed Kitty her very first award. Oh yeah, cried Isabella.
(14:01):
But Kitty just tossed the award in the garbage. I
don't really care about awards, but thanks for your help. Oops.
She had just helped this girl. She wasn't supposed to
help anyone, And to make matters worse, she accidentally responded
with you are welcome, before quickly correcting herself. Oops, I
didn't mean to say that. What I should have said
is that you are welcome to sniff a skunks, but
(14:23):
if you want, Kitty asked if Isabella had always been
this rude. Of course not. I used to be super
nice like you. But I'm getting better at this every
day and you will too, don't worry. But over the
days that followed, Isabella realized Kitty was not getting better
at this. She never saw Kitty pinch anyone, She never
heard her call anyone any names. Kitty just kept on
(14:45):
being nice to people. She didn't even seem to care
that she kept getting sent to the principal's office. Isabella
desperately wanted to help this poor girl without actually helping,
of course, helping bad. But whatever non helpful things she tried,
she just not get Kitty to change. Kitty just kept
on being Kitty. Then one day, Kitty did a small
(15:07):
thing that to Isabella felt like something big. She didn't
yell in her face, or give her a wedgie or
call her a filthy snarflogger. All she did was hand
Isabella a piece of paper, and on that paper were
the words award for being a friend. It looked nothing
like any of the other awards she had received for starters.
(15:27):
This one had been sloppily written on a crinkled piece
of paper pulled out of the recycling bin. Kitty had
practically scribbled the words down with a brown cran, making
it look quite awful to be honest. But when Isabella
got home that day, she put the award on her fridge.
She stood back and proudly admired her latest award. It
may have been an award for being a friend, but
Isabella could not wait to show this girl just how
(15:49):
good of a friend she could be. This girl hadn't
seen anything yet. Isabella could be a really good friend. Well.
The next day, in front of the whole entire class,
Isabella gave Kitty a hug. It was the kind of
hug that lasts way too long while everyone just awkwardly stares.
Both girls got sent to the office for that. Ah shishkabobs.
(16:09):
You girls are back, is Abella. I thought you were
doing a lot better. Please tell me the girl with
the cat name forced you into this. The girl sat
down on the two empty chairs in front of the
principal's desk. Next, they handed the principal a piece of paper.
What is this? What are you giving me? The principal
tried to read what it said. I can't make the
words out on this What does it say looks like
(16:31):
a baby try to write something with a brown crayon.
Isabella read the words out loud. It says, this is
the award for a good principal who cares about his school.
Kitty shuffled herself in her seat. We know you might
not always care about the right things, but we can
tell you still care. You want this to be a
good school, even if it's a little bit m backwards.
(16:54):
The principal didn't say anything for a long time, and
then he spoke, you, uh think I'm a good principal.
We think there's a good principle in there somewhere, answered Kitty.
You know no one who's ever told me that before.
Years ago, when I first became principal, I tried really hard.
(17:14):
I wanted to be the best principal there ever was.
I enforced the rules, I made sure everything ran smoothly.
You'd never have seen anyone run in my hallways. But
all people ever said about me was, oh, here comes mean,
old mister grumpy pants. Eventually I decided if being mean
was what it takes to have a successful school, then
well maybe we'd all be better off being mean. I
(17:35):
began handing out awards anytime I saw something mean happen.
Pretty soon, I wasn't mean, old mister grumpy pants. I
was just like everyone else. Now, it was the girls
starting to sit quietly while they thought about what the
principal had said. But that's the thing, sir, you were
a good principle all along. You weren't being mean. You
were just making sure everyone followed the rules. You were
(17:57):
keeping your school safe. Kids just say stuff like that.
Sometimes I called my parents mean just because they wouldn't
let me have cake for supper. You're doing a great job, sir.
You can be kind and helpful and still have a
great school. The principal sat up a little straighter and
took another look at his award. But you know, I
could be doing a really great job if you think
(18:17):
I'm an okay principle. Now, oh, just wait, mean old
mister grum grabbed a stack of blank award certificates and
began writing on them. Award for helping, award for sharing,
award for being polite, Award for kindness. He then looked
up at Isabella and kiddy, Thank you. Girls. Things are
(18:39):
going to be a lot different around here from now.
On and I owe it all to you, foul smelling
diaper heads. Sir. Ooops, that's right. Not a very kind
thing to say, was it. I'm still working on this,
Isabella smiled. Don't worry, sir. I'm getting better at this
every day and you will too the end. That's the story.
(19:07):
And here is your question of the week. What is
something your school does that you find a little bit strange.
Every school has got something anyway. That's all for now.
We'll catch you on the next one.
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