Miss Biggy,
the 111-foot-tall teacher!
Meet Miss Biggypedagog, the new very tall teacher for the third-grade class out in the Portable classroom. 
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Book 1: The Very Tall Teacher
After a series of mishaps, including an ill-conceived attempt at jump roping, an escaped jumbo cricket in the classroom, and a disastrous Halloween party inside a pumpkin shell, the very tall teacher is at risk of losing her job. With the help of Jenny, she finds a way of managing the three troublemakers in her class and is finally made welcome by the rest of the school’s staff.
1. Miss Biggy
Thump!
The Portable shook.
Thump! Thump!
Something huge and heavy was coming toward our classroom.
Thump! Shake! Thump!
I tilted my head back. The overhead lights swung, and cracks appeared where the ceiling met the walls.
“The roof is rising,” I said from my desk in front.
“It’s coming off,” said Tim behind me.
“Something’s lifting it,” said Brett in the back.
Our shoebox-shaped classroom, known as the Portable, stood on the edge of the playground. Twenty third-graders moved out here when the classes in the main school building grew too big. Now, like a giant lunchbox lid, the Portable's ceiling swung open. Blue sky appeared overhead. A robin flew by, and a leaf fluttered into the room.
Seconds later, something oval, something enormous, something blinking and smiling blocked the view.
“Humongous,” I said.
“A gigantic giant,” said Ginger.
“It's a woman!” said Colin from the back row.
“A gigantic giant woman,” said Justin beside him.
“Humongous,” I repeated.
Two blue eyes, the size of beach balls, stared down at us. Cords of brown hair drooped onto the classroom floor. Red canoe-like lips parted, and out came a tremendous
SQUAAAAAWK!.
We slapped our hands over our ears.
Eyebrows, longer than jump ropes, rose up the woman’s forehead. This time she spoke in a whisper. “I’m so sorry, class. From now on, I’ll use my softest voice. For you see, from now on I will be your teacher.”
Two fingers the size of teenagers lowered into the room. They held a large white card that landed on the whiteboard tray. The
card covered the entire whiteboard. Printed on it was a name:
MISS BIGGYPEDAGOG
“My name is hard to say, so you may call me Miss Biggy,” the woman said.
No one moved. No one said a thing. Finally, I found my voice and shouted, “How tall are you?”
The tall teacher smiled. “Please tell me your name first,” she said.
“Jenny!...Jennifer!...Jenny!”
“Pleased to meet you, Jenny. But there’s no need for you to talk loudly either. For you see, my ears are large and can hear the smallest sounds.”
Miss Biggy turned her head to show us an ear larger than a bathtub. A gold hula-hoop of an earring pierced the fleshy part.
“I’m one hundred eleven feet, and three inches tall,” she said. “That’s taller than the treetops. I’m kneeling on the grass, so it’s easier to talk with you.”
My class raced to the windows. Now we saw the rest of our tall teacher. She wore a white blouse, a long gray skirt, and brown shoes. By her side sat a large canvas bag.
“Where do you come from, Miss Biggy?” asked Nora.
The tall teacher rested her elbows on the top of the classroom wall. “My home is called the Highlands, and I’ve traveled far over the high seas to get to California,” she said. “At Highland Elementary School upper grades really mean upper grades, and Highland High School, well, that’s as high as a kite can fly.”
We laughed. Our new teacher was big, but no longer scary. She seemed kind, even a bit nervous about beginning her new teaching job.
But although this teacher was from a far-off land, and twenty times taller than any other teacher in the school, she started the in day the same way.
“Take your seats, class,” she said. “We have lots of schoolwork to do.”
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Book 2: The Very Tall Teacher Winter & Spring
Miss Biggy finishes her first year of teaching in the Portable classroom. After a whale-watching field trip to the ocean, Miss Biggy receives a visit from her Uncle Everest who tried talking her into returning to her home in the Highlands. After an Open House and day visit to the Portable, Uncle Everest sees the value of a good teacher and gives his giant niece his support.
1. In the Fog
The ceiling of the Portable swung open. Fingers of fog flowed into our shoebox-shaped classroom that stood next to the playground. My class looked up but saw only swirling gray mist.
“Good morning, class,” said our very tall teacher. Her voice tumbled from the fog.
Out the window I saw Miss Biggypedagog, whom everyone calls Miss Biggy. She sat in her giant swivel chair. Only her brown shoes, black skirt, and white blouse were visible. The rest of her one hundred eleven feet—her shoulders, neck and head--vanished into the low clouds.
“Since I can’t see a thing in the classroom today,” Miss Biggy said, “you may ask questions without raising your hand.”
“How’s the weather up there, Miss Biggy?” I called from my front row desk.
“Wonderful, Jenny,” said the tall teacher. “My head is above the fog where it’s sunny and warm.”
At this point Justin, Bret, and Colin, three boys who sat in the back row, slipped from their seats. They plopped onto the pillows in the reading corner.
“If you can’t see us, Miss Biggy, how do you know what we’re doing?” Justin asked.
“Don’t forget my big ears can hear the smallest sounds, Justin. For instance, I know Nora is absent today, since I haven’t heard her desk open. And Drew is drawing right now. I hear the tap, tap of his pencil. Yes, I can hear everything, boys.”
Justin, Bret, and Colin darted back to their desks.
“Thank you boys,” said Miss Biggy. “Now, class, let’s begin the morning with handwriting.”
A large card held between two enormous fingers dropped from the fog. On it was written a big capital B. Using the school flagpole as a pointer, Miss Biggy traced the letter to show how it was formed.
“Now, class, write one line of capital B’s,” she said.
I went to work. I knew the treat in store for me when I finished.
“Done!” Tim and I said together.
Down through the mist came Miss Biggy’s hand. Taking our handwriting papers with us, Tim and I climbed onto her thumb. The hand went up, and we rose through a gray world. Soon we squinted in sunshine. We sat on the top of the Portable wall, sitting face to face with our very tall teacher.
Miss Biggy held a magnifying glass that hung around her neck on yellow yarn. She aimed the lens at our handwriting.
“Beautiful,” she said, and on each of our papers she put one of her pizza-size gold stars..
During morning recess, Miss Biggy faced another fog problem. With her head above the clouds, how was she going to watch us?
Miss Biggy dropped to her knees. Still not low enough she lay on her side.
“That’s better,” she said. “Now I can see you all.”
The soles of Miss Biggy’ brown shoes, I noticed, rose up tall and straight. I kicked a red ball against the right shoe bottom. It was an excellent kickball wall. Phoebe picked up a strand of our teacher’s long brown hair. It made a perfect jump rope.
Bret and Justin saw that Miss Biggy’s huge hand rested on the softball diamond. They started climbing her curled figures as if it were a new jungle gym. All in all, it was the best recess of the school year.
After recess, fog still shrouded the Portable.
“Math time, class,” Miss Biggy said, and she lowered a stack of three by five yard flashcards onto the classroom floor.
“Who knows the times tables?” she asked.
“I do!” I shouted.
“OK, Jenny. Begin.”
Miss Biggy flipped a giant card.
“Twenty-one!” I called out.
The teacher flipped some more.
“Eighteen! Fifty-four!” I said.
Flip! Flip! Flip!
Like giant fans, the flashing cards stirred up the fog.
“Twelve! Sixteen! Eight!”
Flip! Flip! Flip!
The flash card breeze blew stronger.
Flip! Flip!
Yes, the cards were sweeping the fog away from the Portable. The blurry outline of Miss Biggy’s face appeared overhead. With each flipping card, she came more in focus.
“Forty-nine! Fifty-Six!”
Flip!
“Eighty-one!” I shouted as the last card appeared.
When I looked up, I saw the blue sky. I saw a crow fly by. I also saw our very tall teacher smiling down at me. She rested her elbows on the classroom wall.
“That was very good, Jenny,” she said. “Nice to see you again.”
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Book 3: The Very Tall Teacher in the Big Apple
Miss Biggy teaches at an International School in New York City
1. ISNY
ISNY, the International School of New York, is located on the seventh floor of a very tall building in New York City. The classrooms, kindergarten through sixth grade, run from one end of the floor to the other, so the third grade was in the middle of the floor. That is where ten third-graders, each in a blue and gray ISNY uniform, sat on the first day of school, waiting for their new teacher.
“I heard someone say our new teacher is very large,” said Saana, who was from Finland.
“Everything seems tall in New York City,” said Takahito, who was from Japan.
“Last year our teacher was from Scotland and our first-grade teacher was from New Zealand,” commented Neela, who was from Iran. “I wonder where this one will be from.”
“Every year I get a new school,” said Hamid, who was from India. “Last year I was in London. Before that I was in Tokyo and Sydney.”
Meanwhile, Min-Yung who was from Korea, remained silent. Having only been in America two weeks, she spoke little English. Her desk was by the window and was now staring out at the office building across the street. Directly across from her she watch dentist was peering down the throat of a patient.
All at once something enormous blocked Min-Young’s view. It took a moment for her realize what she was seeing. Now what was the word in English? She pointed out the window and shouted, “Eyes! Eyes look!”
The rest of the class looked out the window and saw what she meant. Two blue eyes, the size of globes, stared into their classroom.
The eyes belong to an enormous face with enormous lips and an enormous nose and long, brown hair that drooped onto enormous shoulders..
“Eye-eeee,” said Ayo, who was from Nigeria. “There’s a woman out there. A huge woman!”
“That must be one of the New York Giant,” said Sal, who was from Chile.
“No, the New York Giants are an American football team,” said Nigel from England.
“Whatever...whoever that is, she’s taller than the Statue of Liberty,” said Anne, who was from Australia.
At that moment, a giant finger appeared at the window and this finger tapped on the glass.
Saana got up to open it. The classroom filled with the sounds of New York--yellow taxis honking, police siren, buses passing on the road below.
The students gasped again when the lips parted. Out of the enormous mouth came these words.
“Hello, children. I’m your new teacher, Miss Biggypedagog. You can call me Miss Biggy for short."
Book 4: The Very Tall Teacher in a Very Small Town
Miss Biggy teaches at a one-classroom school in a small logging town in Oregon.
