Time keeps on slippin' (slippin', slippin')

Throughout the month of March in preschool we learned about Classical Music, Marching Music, Big Band Music, and last week it was Rock & Roll Music. In preparing for this lesson, it occurred to me that some of these kids may have never seen a record before (*gasp!*). So I got out the record player and a record and made this the introduction to our "sock hop" (they all wore crazy socks and danced to 50's and 60's dances for a half-hour. Cute.).

First I asked them what those big black circles were that I had taped to my cabinets:

"Disks!"
"CD's!"
"Wheels!"

Then I told them what they were and asked if anyone had seen them before. And, if they had seen them, do you know what the top answer was? "At my granny's house!" Now, I don't doubt that Granny has a record player, but gollllyyyy...how old am I? All of my treasured childhood recordings were on 33 1/2's.

Then I opened up the record player and showed them the needle and the turn table. Awestruck and curious, they patiently watched me unsheathe the record from it's sleeve.

"Whoaaaaaaa," they chorused.
"Is that a real one?" one child asked.

"Yes, that's a real one," I responded.

"Can I touch it?" another one asked, wide-eyed.

"No," I replied. "You can't touch it because if it gets finger oils on it, it won't play anymore."

"Ooooohhhhh."


Yeah, I don't wish for the record player to make a comeback or anything, but when you think about it, wasn't it cool to be a part of the time period when the record was a thing? And we got to experience that as an actual part of our lives, not just as an antique we saw one day in music class. I think, neato.

Just in case you forget...

I went on a little road trip yesterday to go visit an organ dealer, as our church is considering a new organ for the sanctuary. Before we left, I asked to use the restroom, as we had about an hour's drive ahead of us. I couldn't resist a quick picture of the little sign on their bathroom door:



Yeah, I'm always forgetting to shut the door when I have to pee in public restrooms. Thank goodness for the sign!

BFF (Beethoven's Favorite Foods)

This month in music we're studying styles of music. Last week was classical music week, and since we have been using "Ode to Joy" to illustrate a LOT of musical concepts lately, I decided that if I was going to teach them about one classical composer it would be Beethoven. So to make learning about Beethoven a little bit more fun, I made a little power point presentation with pictures and sound effects so that my "lecture" would sound more like a story. The power point kept the kids' interest pretty well (largely because they like to do things with the lights off), especially when we got to the part about Beethoven's favorite foods.

I started by asking them "What do you think Mr. Beethoven's favorite foods are? (they throw out a couple of guesses). You think so? Let's see..."

Then I hit the space bar on the keyboard and the following picture slides up from the bottom accompanied with the sound of a crowd of people saying "mmmmmmmmmm!":


They excitedly yell "Macaroni and Cheese!!!!! ('That's my FAVORITE!' 'That's my favorite TOO!' 'ME too!')

Then the next picture:

"mmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

"Coffee!!!!!" they all yell. No one claims this as their favorite.

Picture number 3:

"mmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

"FISH!!!!!"

Then the last picture, egg and bread soup, which I accompanied with the sound of a man disgustedly saying "eeeewwwww!":


This confused them. They all studied the screen for several seconds, their little faces scrunched in thought. Then one brave boy, serious and concerned, broke the silence.

"Throw up."