“Don’t Let the Bear Drive the Model T!” from 4th Grade Techie Kids

To see "Don’t Let the Bear Drive the Model T!" from Mrs. Moore and the 4th Grade Techie Kids, click the title below...

Don’t Let the Bear Drive the Model T!

Hello 4th Grade Techie Kids,

What an amazing book you have written. I can see the bear was really keen to drive the Model T but he wasn't allowed. I think you left us wondering what the next adventure might be in the bear's future. Would it be called, "Don't Let the Bear Fly the Helicopter?"

Your story had me thinking of the first car on the old family dairy farm when my mother was a girl. They didn't have a Model T, they had a Whippet. Just by chance, a nearby town had a car and truck show for charity recently. As I wandered around adding to my photo collection, I found a Whippet amongst the collection. Here is the photo.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Location: Pambula, N.S.W., Australia

Reading your story, I wondered what would happen in a story entitled, "Don't Let the Cow Drive the Whippet!"

I think I'll take the challenge with a short story with a little rhyme. Here goes....

 "Don't Let the Cow Drive the Whippet!"

.

Farmer Arthur was a special guy,

He was my grandad you see,

He'd tell his tales of make believe,

Especially for me.

.

But of his stories, there was just one,

I’d often ask to tell,

It was of Daisy, the brilliant cow

And a car called Whippet as well.

.

One day when heading off to town,

He’d left the cow a warning.

“Now don’t be bad while I am gone,

I’ll be back in the morning.”

.

But Daisy was a naughty cow,

She’d never, ever listen.

She sneaked the keys and took the car

“He’ll never know it’s missin.”

.

Now if this was a simple spin,

Nothing bad might happen.

But she forgot there was a spy,

And the spy dog wasn’t nappin’.

.

Daisy took for her gang of five,

The others knew to fear.

They were the dreaded Udder Gang,

They’d been a scourge all year.

.

Daisy sat behind the wheel,

With Belle who sat beside.

And in the back were Milk and Cream,

There’s no room left inside.

.

But of the gang there was a fifth,

And she’d not be one left out.

So on the roof she took her place,

The crazy milking lout.

.

They had their spin round country roads,

Before heading back to farm.

They parked the car and all got out,

They thought they’d done no harm.

.

The morning dawned and Arthur came,

The cows saw spy dog talkin’.

Their fear now grew as they watched on,

For Arthur was their way walkin'.

.

“What have you done, you silly cows?”

They knew he was quite mad.

But Daisy smiled her innocent smile,

Said, “Moo?” and then looked sad.

.

Her acting might have worked you see,

For Daisy was so convincing.

“I know you did it you naughty girl.”

Her sadness turned to wincing.

.

While dog had told, that was not all,

For Arthur saw his Whippet.

With milk on floor and hooves on roof,

Daisy’s forgotten one small snippet.

.

She promised she’d never repeat her deed,

Her naughty jaunt that day.

But as she spoke her hooves were crossed,

She's always sneaky that way.

.

Daisy gathered her gang to have a chat,

“The next time we go a driving,

We’ll take the dog and clean the car.”

The Udders were so conniving.

.

 Click on the drawing to open another window and hear the poem read.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic and poem for non-commercial, educational purposes.

6 thoughts on ““Don’t Let the Bear Drive the Model T!” from 4th Grade Techie Kids

  1. Savanna

    Dear Mr. Mannell,

    I liked your story very much. It was very funny! I liked the part where a cow got on the roof. I also liked the part where Farmer Authur talked about the milk and hoof prints. From you story I learned what a Whippet is. Your story was very interesting!

    From,
    Savanna
    Techie Kids

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Dear Savanna,

      It was fun writing the story/poem. The basic poem took about an hour but editing it took much longer.

      Farmer Arthur was a real person. He was my grandfather. I used to walk with him across the farm and sometimes we’d sit and talk. He had never told me the above story but he would tell me about the farm and animals. A cousin is the dairy farmer of the family these day.

      The Whippet is an American car produced in the 1920s by, I think, Willys. Here is a link to a Wikipedia post on the company…
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whippet_%28car%29

      Ross Mannell

      Reply
  2. ally

    Dear Mr. Mannell,

    I loved your story. My favorite part was when the cow mooed like she didn’t do it. That part was very funny to me. I never heard of a whippet before I read your story. I can’t belive that you got the awesome idea from our fourth grade.

    From,
    Ally Techie Kids

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Dear Ally,

      It can be surprising where story ideas can come from. I normally have a notepad with me when I go out so, if an idea for a story comes to mind, I can note it down.

      With this story, I was fascinated by your “Don’t Let the Bear Drive the Model T!”. I thought about the family farm and the old family Whippet. I wondered what would happen if a sneaky cow decided to go for a drive.

      The farm did have a sneaky cow once. She thought she was a human because she had been hand raised. Sometimes she would get into the main house’s garden and try to go into the house. I don’t think she every tried to drive a car. 😉

      Ross Mannell

      Reply
  3. Mrs. Moore's 4th Graders

    Dear Mr. Mannell,

    Thank you for writing a post on your blog about us! Yes, you are right. If we made the next book in our series it would be “Don’t Let the Bear Fly the Helicopter!”
    We haven’t heard of a Whippet before. Thank you for showing us a picture.

    We listened to you reading us the story. It was really funny! We think it would be fun to see all of the illustrations to your story. The illustration you made was awesome! What program did you use to make it? We used KidPix4, TuxPaint, and PowerPoint.

    You shared some words we hadn’t heard before. We tried using context clues to figure out the meaning. The first word was “scourge.” We thought it might mean naughty. Robbie thought “Jaunt” might mean a trip. Kathryn thought a “snippet” might mean a detail. Did we come close to figuring out the meanings?

    Thank you for writing us a special message. This was very fun!

    From your new friends,
    The 4th Grade Techie Kids

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Dear 4th Grade Techie Kids,

      Thank you for leaving comments. 🙂

      Your post had me wondering what mischief a bear might have if it were to drive a Model T or fly a helicopter. This had me thinking about the old family dairy farm. We don’t have bears native to Australia so I wondered what might happen if a cow tried to drive a car. The Whippet car (an American car from the 1920s) had been the family car when my mum was a girl although I don’t think they bought it new.

      The graphic was created using Photoshop. I prepared a post giving some idea how the graphic was made. It is on my “Exploring Ideas” blog. Here is the link…
      http://rossmannell.primaryblogger.co.uk/2013/05/16/preparing-simple-drawings-for-blogs/

      Words can sometimes be confusing when we don’t know them. Let’s see how you went with the meanings according to my dictionary…
      scourge – a cause of calamity (mischief)
      jaunt – to make a short journey
      snippet – a small piece or detail
      Using your context clues, you had 3 out of 3. Well done! 🙂

      Ross Mannell

      Reply

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