Terrible Two's

At preschool I teach music to 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-olds. Today was one of my 2-year-old class days. There are three classes of 6 students going on at once, and this is the only age group where they combine classes for music. Do the math...yes. 18 2-year-olds for 1/2 an hour. It's fun, but keeping them entertained is a challenge. And sometimes the only way I can keep them on task is by letting them have a little wiggle room within my plan to do what they want to do.

For this group, I try to find songs that allow the kids to make up their own verses. Some of them are still learning how to talk, let alone sing, and this keeps their interest a lot longer. Since it's January, we've been singing "The Snow is Falling Down."

(To the tune of "The Farmer In the Dell")
The Snow Is Falling Down,
The Snow Is Falling Down,
The Snow is Falling everywhere,
The Snow Is Falling Down.

After we've sung the first verse (with snow-fingers), I very enthusiastically ask them, "Where else do we see the snow when it falls?" Inevitably, they all yell their ideas at once over and over again until I pick one out of the air and we sing that verse.

"The ROOF!"

Okay....

The Snow is on the roof,
The Snow is on the roof,
The Snow is Falling everywhere,
The Snow is on the roof.

"Where else do we see the snow when it falls?"

"The CARS!"
"The SLIDE!"
"The SWINGS!"
"On an ELEPHANT!"
"On our NOSE!"
"On our HEAD!"

So we proceeded to sing through all of these verses, each one with it's own special motion. We had to put a moratorium on the use of body parts, however, when I asked "Where else do we see the snow when it falls?" and one little girl stuck her chest proudly in the air and shouted:

"Our BOOBIES!"

Mr. Goodbar's Little Brother

Alright...not even a day after I posted the blog about Mr. Goodbar, his new little brother showed up in their driveway:


No, no. That isn't just a shadow. That is a sweet fade from burnt orange to royal purple. This one looks like it's not quite as refined as Mr. Goodbar, as there are a few dents and dings. BUT, the wheels are certainly very special.

I suppose I can't point too many fingers because Lord knows the car I used to drive wasn't nearly as nice or fun as these guys. Mine was a mint green '78 Oldsmobile with a dent in the back door which included a lime-green paint scrape. And honestly, I wouldn't turn down a chance to take Mr. Goodbar around the block. :)

Mr. Goodbar

This car has been living down the street from us for the past few months, and I just had to share:

I didn't know what to think of it at first, and still don't, really. I just look at it and think, "why?" Everything about it...the paint job, the ginormous wheels, the make and model. Was this intended to be some sort of a race car? How much money was put into restoring this gem? And he drives it! To real places! Does he ever forget that he's two entire feet above the earth and fall out of the car? Does it have hydrolics? Or nitrous? Maybe the engine takes chocolate instead of oil.

One of my favorite three-year-olds (I know, I love them all the same, blah blah blah) recently had to leave our preschool program. Last week, before this child's departure, the little boy that would take her spot and his mom and dad came to visit the school. When they dropped by my classroom I didn't have a class going on, so I got the opportunity to talk to him a little. He was very shy and a little intimidated by his surroundings, so to try and get him excited about coming to school I told him all about our upcoming Christmas program and how everyone in his class, including him, was going to get to be a shepherd. He just stared at me with trepidation and retreated further back to the shelter of his parents. Our Preschool Director continued to tell him about the program and all the songs that he would get to sing, and ended with "Would you like that?"

He paused for a minute and then replied, "I don't wanna be a shepherd."

Okay. That's fine. It didn't phase me much because most of my students already said they'd rather be Optimus Prime or a princess. So the family continued their tour and I went on about my day.

The next morning at carpool our director approached me to discuss the family's visit from the previous day. She had tried to talk to the boy one more time about how fun it would be to be a shepherd in the Christmas Program. And finally he told her why he wasn't interested:

"I don't want to take care of the sheep."

Fair warning

After three months of running up and down the stairs at Mauldin United Methodist Church, I finally read the signs posted in every stairwell:

Ribbons and Buttons and Bows, Oh My!

We've been busily making costumes for the youngn's at school, as this is the first time in, like, 20 years that they've done a new Christmas Program. We were having a hard time coming by gold poster board (angel wings) and since I live in Simpsonville, the preschool director suggested that I try Wilson's, which is in Simpsonville and right on my way home. I had seen the store before, but didn't think much of it. In fact, I kind of associated it with Wilson's the leather store, even though the two have nothing to do with each other.

The minute I stepped through the door my jaw hit the floor. Imagine a store like Fogler's or Ben Franklin. Now take all the stuff out of the store and multiply it by 10. Then fit all back into the same store. I felt a little awkward about taking as many pictures as I really wanted to, but I did manage to steal a couple of their ribbon aisle:

The first side...

...and the other side

They also had some on an endcap. They had EVERYTHING at that store in great supply: streamers, Christmas decorations, cards, gift wrap, toys, picture frames, crafts, balloons, school supplies, knick knacks, stickers, household items, candles, candy, puzzles, games, Halloween costumes...

They did not, however, have gold poster board.

I Give Up

I've tried to be sensitive about telling teacher stories. I realize that those of you who do not spend your days with rooms full of children could probably care less...but here's the reality: kids are just funny. As much as I want to entertain you all with some random bizarre tale, the truth is that a lot of the crack-ups in my life these days come from the classroom. So, here's a couple to take with you:

November (at least the first part of it) is tempo month in music class. We've all been experiencing fast and slow music in all sorts of different ways. The four and five year olds have even been learning some tempo vocab - Adagio (slow) and Allegro (fast). And because they are only four and five, we spend the first few minutes of each class reviewing those new words and what they mean. My last class went a little something like this:

Mrs. Palmer: "Who remembers what kinds of sounds we were talking about last time?"

Child with raised hand: "Fast and slow!"

Mrs. Palmer: "That's right! And who remembers our new really big words? Which one means very slowly?"

(Silence)

Mrs. Palmer: "A - da....."

All at the top of their lungs: "Adagio!"

Mrs. Palmer: "Yes! Very good! And which one means really fast?"

(Silence)

Mrs. Palmer: "Al - le..."

One Kid: "An Egg Roll!!!!"



This week, we've just started learning our songs for the Christmas Programs in all the classes. The story of our Christmas Program is about the Littlest Christmas Tree. Without going into all the details of the story, it's basically about the Littlest Pine Tree in the forest, and how it was so small that it couldn't hear or see any of the excitement going on (the baby Jesus being born). So the angels chose the little tree to be their gift bearer to the baby Jesus and that's how the Christmas tree got all it's decorations.

So, I was telling this story to the three year olds, in much greater and more animated detail, and I got to the part where the angels "scooped up the little tree from the forest, and set their gifts in her branches one by one, and then carried the little tree to the manger and gently set it down by the baby Jesus..." at which point one three year old boy interrupted.

"So she could pet Him!"