Book 2 Chapter 9: When The Students Learn

Dovic was really enjoying going to school and watching the children learn. When The Old Wise One and Gazza came to school with him, he tried to explain some of the Maths he had been learning, but Gazza looked at him puzzled and The Old Wise One pondered on it but wasn’t particularly interested in Geometry. Instead, he admitted, he loved listening to the students read and hear the stories being told in the classroom, best of all.

After the students went home and while The Old Wise One slept for a bit in a more comfortable chair, Dovic and Gazza began to prepare for the next day, aware that Bruiser and Tumbarumba would be coming in tomorrow.

Dovic tried on Hibiscus’ hat and when Gazza laughed at him, he said defensively, “Well, I can’t help it if it doesn’t fit me. You try it on!”

Gazza replied, “Don’t be ridiculous. If it doesn’t fit you, it won’t fit me. Come on, what else will Bruiser and Tumba be doing tomorrow?”

They sat and thought for a long while and when Gazza heard a strange noise coming from next to him, he realised Dovic had fallen asleep. “Oh boy, oh boy. Dovic’s not much fun when he’s deep in thought.”

Gazza went over to where the coloured paper was stored and tried fitting in between the purple pages, pulling a red sheet of paper over him. The shuffling of paper woke Dovic up and he howled with laughter. “What are you trying to do?” he asked Gazza, “Be a purple pinata?”

Gazza blushed and responded, “Don’t mock my disguise. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Dovic apologised and said he didn’t mean to hurt Gazza’s feelings and the two lumbered back to their seat. When The Old Wise One woke up, Dovic blurted out, “You should have seen Gazza! He got between the purple pages and turned another leaf. Haha”.

Gazza looked at him surprised, “Oh boy, oh boy, Dovic, way to make it sound weird” and when he burst out laughing, Dovic smiled.

The students had a busy day of schoolwork but some students took the time to stop and take photos of them to show to their parents when they got home. Ava declared her mum liked The Old Wise One the best and Abbie was happy to see Gazza as he and Ellie were her favourites. The day went fast and when it was time to go, The Old Wise One wearily left saying, “I’m glad to go, I cannot tell a lie” and Dovic and Gazza looked at him with concern and offered him a paw if he needed it.

The next morning, as Dovic, Tumbarumba and Bruiser watched the students coming in, Bruiser was excited to see Owen. Just like some of the students had their favourite member of the Hibiscus clan, some of them had their favourites, too. All of the students were Hibiscus' favourites and she appreciated they each had a different sense of humour, they worked and learned in their own unique ways. She knew some were quick at learning Maths, some loved to write their own stories, some were good at sport, especially basketball and netball and some looked forward to playing at lunch time, more than learning in the classroom. 

Dovic loved Maths and when the students learned about symmetry, tangrams, and geometry, he loved to sit up close and watch them work. The designs they created, the colours they chose, really appealed to him and he wished he could do the same. During Maths, Bruiser and Dovic went and looked at Owen's work and admired his Rangoli design. It was original and very creative. They liked the way Josh had made his design look like an apple pie and they both remembered the time Ronnie had eaten a piece of lemon meringue pie in the middle of the night.

Tumbarumba went to the other side of the classroom to see what Xavier was up to and Daniel tried to show him how to sharpen a pencil. Tumba tried to do it himself but no matter how many times Daniel showed him and tried to help him, he couldn't do it. Eventually, he gave up and after looking at other students' work, went back to his seat.

During English, they heard two dreamtime stories, one was about Tiddalik the frog and the other one was about how pelicans became black and white. They listened to the students reading their parts and wished they could see them acting it out in full costume and with props. They laughed when Hibiscus pretended to be an old woman, explaining to Ben that sometimes she forgot things and she pushed her glasses down her nose and spoke in a strange voice that made quite a few of the students laugh too.

Throughout the day, students went off to band practise but due to Covid restrictions, when they had a lesson, they were not allowed to play their instruments and their music teachers could not either. Hibiscus told her students about the time she started learning the flute. Her music teacher told her she could do the fingering perfectly, but she couldn’t make any sound come from it. A few years later she tried again and could do both at the same time. They asked her when she would bring her tenor recorder in to show them and she simply said, “Soon… maybe. Even if I brought it in, I still wouldn’t be able to play it for you, due to the Covid restrictions.” Jacob suggested she make a recording of it so they could watch it on the screen.

After lunch, each of the students read a sentence from the book they were reading, while the roll was being marked. Hibiscus asked Owen and Jack to email the sentences they read so that she could use them in this chapter of the book. She reminded her class that reading a lot of books, helps give ideas when you are writing. She has used quotes from other books the students had read before, too. 

All too soon, the day was over and after the students had cleared their things off the desk, put their chairs up and were standing quietly, Hibiscus said, “Good afternoon”. They chorused, “Good afternoon!” and ran noisily out of the classroom. Later, as Bruiser, Tumbarumba and Dovic packed up their things, there was a shower of rain and they were glad to be safe and dry inside. It was another good day of learning for them all.