I Know an Old Teacher

By Anne Bowen and Stephen Gammell

Meet Miss Bindley—an ordinary teacher with an unusual appetite. Miss Bindley doesn’t eat the usual fare like tuna melts and meatloaf. Instead, when her stomach grumbles, it’s the class pets she has her eye—er, stomach—on. Watch out! You never know who might be next.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781467737876

Anne Bowen

Anne Bowen is the author of Tooth Fairy’s First Night, which was nominated for the Nevada Young Reader’s Award, the Nebraska Golden Sower Award, and the Georgia Picture Book Award. Her book, What Do Teacher’s Do (after YOU Leave School)? was a CBC Book Award nominee and a Society of School Librarians International Honor Book. She also wrote When You Visit Grandma and Grandpa, A Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year, and I Know An Old Teacher, which was included in the 100th anniversary edition of the Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books of the Year. Anne was a teacher for thirty years. She lives in Ogden, Utah, with her husband.

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Reviews for I Know an Old Teacher

[aliciarollins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fiction story that tells all these different silly things the teacher can eat such as a spider, fish, lizard, snake, etc. At the end of the book the students ask if she can eat a student. She replies no. I think this is a cute book that gets children over the fears of school and their teachers. The illustration was bright and colorful which I think is important in children's books. The pictures show the teacher with her hair sticking up on her head. I thought that was cute. I believe I will read this book to my students every year during the first week. It is definitely a good way to break the ice. I just wish the book was a little longer and maybe went into detail about the children being afraid or something.

[jerasullivan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Summary:There is a teacher who has swallowed a flea. As the students watch she begins to swallow all of the classroom pets one by one so that each one can eat the last pet that was swallowed. By the end of the book the teacher begins to look over the students and they wonder if it could be possible that she would try to swallow one of them. Personal Reaction:I really enjoyed this book! It was a silly to describe a teacher doing something that teachers would not normally do. I believe children would have fun reading it. The book had great illustrations to describe the scene that was going on each time she swallowed one of the class pets. Classroom Extension Ideas:1. This book could be used as a good read along or sing along. It would catch the children's attention and involve them more in the story. 2. This book could be read to children if they was going to get their own classroom pet for the year.

[missbrandysue · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Miss Bindley swallows a flea that fell into her tea and then begins eating all of the class pets to eat each other. In the old-fashioned way of "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.." the book is written just the same.The illustrations are very well done but it made me a bit sick to my stomach in the way they are well done but very ... Tim Burton-esque if you ask me.Cute for lower elementary students. Would be fun to do with a Swallowing pattern book study.

[shanetia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Summary:This book is about a teacher named Mrs. Bindley. Mrs. Bindley swallowed a flea, then swallows a series of other critters in order to get rid of the flea. The students were worried that she would eventually try to swallow one of them.Personal Reaction:All I can say is, this book is hilarious. I think this book would be pretty entertaining to a group of third or fourth graders. The pictures were comical, which I believe the students would get a kick out of that alone. I have to get this book to read to my children. Love it!Classroom Extension:1. I would bring gummies to class that resembles some of critters that Mrs. Bindley gobbled. While the students and I enjoy our treats, we would have a class discussion about some of the funny parts in the story. 2. I would have each student make a clay sculpture of one of the critters that Mrs. Bindley consumed.

[lquilter_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Honestly I found this kind of disturbing, and I have no idea what my 2.5yo thought of it. The original ("I know an old lady who swallowed a fly") gets *so* absurd (swallowing a cow, a horse, etc.) that it's not as disturbing. But here it's a teacher swallowing classroom pets, that are, actually, swallowable (snake, spider, lizard). So, probably brilliant for someone, but for me, umm, ick.

[lisa_tugmon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a teacher who is seen eating insects, bugs, and other animals by some students outside her window. She starts out eating a flea, then a spider, then a fish, then a rat, then a snake, and then a lizard. The children then are afraid that she will eat them, but she doesn't!This book is one of my favorites. It has a great gross factor. Children love the building up of this book and of course they get a kick out of the gross factor appeal that it offers. The pictures a done by Stephen Gammell. He uses lots of colors and is very well known for his great illustrations.Classroom Extension #1: Make a collage of all of the things the teacher ate. Have the children go through magazines and cut out pictures of animals, bugs, or other fun and gross things and paste them on a poster board making a collage of everything that the teacher ate.Classroom Extension #2: Have your class create their own story that follows the same pattern as this story. The teacher should start out saying "I know an old lady who swallowed a..." and each child would be able to fill in their own items/animals. Have the first child start out with something small and as the story goes have each child state something bigger than what the last student said. If you wanted to, you could make a book out of it by having the children eaither draw pictures of the item they choose or cut it out of a magazine and paste it on construction paper and then bind all of the children's pages together.

[angmarwilson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a teacher who swallowed all the class pets. The students saw everything and were totally astonished and thought that the teacher would end up eating one of them. It all started when she accidentally swallowed something very small and just kept swallowing something bigger to gobble up the last thing she swallowed.I thought this book was really great. The illustrations were absolutely fabulous. This book would fun to read to my class during the first few weeks. First impression on a teacher! =)I would have my students do an art project. I would have them use color pencils(like in the book) and draw a picture of their pet, if they had one. I would also start a class discussion of what kind of class pet we should have and why we should have that kind of pet.

[jemilie_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

SUMMARY:This is a fun, very creative,rhyming picture book about children using their imagination and creating a new sing along for "There was an Old Lady". They used the pets in the classroom to show a food web. In other words, they showed how each animal eats the other and at the same time using their class teacher as the main source to make the story more effective.Personal:I love this book very much. I have always loved that rhythm and used it in almost all the classes I have taught. The pictures stand out. This book is appropiate for first and second grade level. The boys in the class would love this book very much because of the animals and the way they were eaten and by whom.CLASSROOM:The teacher can use a big book so that children can read as a whole class and students will try to find the rhyming words.They can also have chorale speaking. A student will use the desk as drums, another a glass bottle and stick, clapping, humming, different other forms of expressions whilst the others will recite the story to make an enjoyable fun learning activity.

[coolabby-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was funny, crazy, and silly

[olisia_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was really fun to read. It was a great new verion of the song There Was An Old Lady Who Swollowed A Fly.

[adaq-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Honestly I found this kind of disturbing, and I have no idea what my 2.5yo thought of it. The original ("I know an old lady who swallowed a fly") gets *so* absurd (swallowing a cow, a horse, etc.) that it's not as disturbing. But here it's a teacher swallowing classroom pets, that are, actually, swallowable (snake, spider, lizard). So, probably brilliant for someone, but for me, umm, ick.