Happenings in my Classroom

This week we started reading Stone Fox. It is a story of a boy who lives with his Grandfather, who hasn't paid his taxes for 10 years and now owes $500. The boy chooses to enter a race, where his dog pulls him to win $500 to pay back the taxes. An Indian named Stone Fox also wants to win the race because he wants the money as well.
When we first started reading the book, one of the questions the kids had to answer was when does the story take place. All of them said it took place a long time ago, but they all had different reasons why. One student said it was because the pictures were in black and white and another one said it was because the boy was wearing overalls in the pictures.
But the best one was when one of the kids said it took place a long time ago, because Indians don't come down very often, so that is how he knew it took place a long time ago. I asked him where the Indians were coming down from and he said, "You know, up there". I asked him if he meant the mountains and he said, "Yeah, I guess" I was still intrigued, so I asked him if he meant the Reservation and he said, "Yeah, that's it." Oh goodness! If only he knew he was surrounded by reservations and Indians are all over the place.