Gooney Bird on the Map Read Online Free

territory. Mr. Leroy donated it to us until vacation."
    "But what's it
for,
Gooney Bird?" asked Mrs. Pidgeon.
    Gooney Bird hummed a melody very loudly.
    "'This Land Is Your Land'!" called Chelsea, recognizing the tune.
    "You got it!" said Gooney Bird. "We're going to make us a map from California to the New York island!"
    "How?" several children asked. "It's all snowy out there!"
    "Ever made sculpture out of sand, on the beach?"
    They all nodded. "Sandcastles," Keiko said.
    "I built a monster once," Nicholas said, "with tentacles."
    "Well, this will be like that, only out of snow," Gooney Bird explained.
    "Well! This sounds exciting! Outdoor clothes, everyone!" Mrs. Pidgeon announced.
    The children moved toward the hooks that held their jackets.
    "Mrs. Pidgeon?" Gooney Bird asked. "Could you bring a map? I know the pull-down one is too big. But do you maybe have a book with a USA map in it?"
    "Oh, yes, I'm sure I do." Mrs. Pidgeon went to the bookcase.
    "Good. Bring that. And, everybody?" Gooney Bird added, pulling on her boots. "Be prepared to tell us your vacation plans. Every single one of you. Even you, Malcolm." Malcolm scowled.
    "Why?" asked Keiko as she wrapped her pink scarf around her neck.
    "Because we're going to put us all on the map!"

4.
    "Don't get too close or wag your tail, Bruno, until the paint dries," Mr. Furillo warned his dog. The big Newfoundland was watching as the custodian finished drawing the spray-paint line around the huge rectangle of snow-packed playground.
    "It wouldn't matter, Mr. Furillo," Nicholas said as the children approached the corner of the playground that Mr. Leroy had given them for the project. "The paint is black, and Bruno's tail is black. It wouldn't even show."
    "Ah, but he'd use his tail as a paintbrush," Mr. Furillo explained. "He'd paint the halls inside the school!"
    Fortunately, Bruno was very obedient, and very lazy. He simply lay down on the snow, his tail tucked under him, and watched while the custodian finished the last line. Mrs. Pidgeon and the children watched, too. "There you are!" Mr. Furillo said. "There's your official territory, all marked off. What do you think? Like it? Need anything else?"
    "One more thing," Gooney Bird told him. "Is there still paint in the can?"
    He shook it and listened. "Yep. Lots."
    "Okay," Gooney Bird told him. "In this corner"—she pointed to the lower right corner of the huge rectangle—"could you make a big plus sign?"
    "A plus sign?"
    "Yes. You know what that looks like. Two plus two?"
    "It's like the 'add' key on a calculator," Barry explained to him.
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    "Oh! Got it!" Mr. Furillo said. "Where do you want it? Right here okay?" he stood in the corner that Gooney Bird had pointed to. She nodded, and he sprayed carefully.
    "Oops," he said. "A little wobbly."
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    "That's all right," Gooney Bird reassured him. "Now we need a letter at each of the four points. N, E, S, W Can you do that? The N goes at the top."
    Mr. Furillo gazed at the plus sign, thinking. "I get it!" he said. "North, east, south, west!"
    "Good for you, Mr. Furillo. That's exactly right."
    Carefully he sprayed the letters onto the snow. The children all watched with interest. Bruno snored slightly.
    Mr. Furillo stood back and looked. Bruno yawned, got up, stood beside him, yawned, and looked. Mrs. Pidgeon and all of the second-graders looked.
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    Everyone smiled.
    "It's a real map!" Ben said.
    "We're going to make a map of the United States inside our territory," Gooney Bird explained.
    "I think I'm standing on Antarctica!" Barry Tuckerman said proudly, looking down at his own boots where they were planted on a mound of snow at the lower edge of the marked-off area.
    "May I make a suggestion?" Mrs. Pidgeon asked.
    "Of course," said Gooney Bird.
    "I think," Mrs. Pidgeon suggested, "that if Mr. Furillo sprayed a little arrowhead at the tip of each—"
    "Gotcha!" Mr. Furillo said, and he went to work.
    "Perfect! May we keep the paint can?" Gooney Bird