Old Yeller

One of the things left behind by the previous occupant of my new classroom was a VHS copy of "Old Yeller". It was one of the few things I didn't throw out when I moved in. My students had earned a reward for accumulating table points for good behavior a couple weeks ago, and today I finally had the time to reward them with a movie and some popcorn. Ironically, they owed me eleven minutes off their Citizenship Recess at the end of the day for not-so-good behavior!

I had never seen "Old Yeller" - at least I don't recall having seen it before. It's melodramatic for sure, but I'm a sucker for a dog movie. I knew it had a tragic ending and I was afraid I'd cry in front of my students, so I sort of half-watched it while I corrected their tests.

The kids were really chatty during the first half of the movie - fourth graders always are! Do they do that in the movie theater, too? They drive me nuts! Anyway, after the scene with the boars, they really settled down and watched the end of the movie intently. We all learned that "hydrophobia" is another term for rabies - I looked it up on the Internet, and we were all sad to see how Old Yeller met his demise. I didn't cry though, and I don't think anyone else did, either. I think it helped that the family already had that cute, little puppy.

The nice thing about this movie was that I didn't have to gasp or make comments once about any inappropriate language. Even in G and PG movies, there is so much swearing these days. I always have to express my dismay when the characters swear because I don't want my students to think that I think it's okay for there to be swearing in children's movies - it's not! So, I'm thinking I need to get my hands on some more D*sney classics like this one for future movie days.

Do you have a favorite D*sney movie from way back when?