I was bitten by a kindergartener today.
My friend Matt has this fun blog idea, wherein his blog topic each day comes from the song stuck in his head that morning. Sometimes they're silly, sometimes he turns it into something quite profound. Inspired, I thought I would try that.
Problem: the song song stuck in my head this morning was "The Mitten Song." (listen to it here) I'm not sure there's much useful storytelling I can pull out of "Thumbs in the thumb-place, fingers all together/this is the song we sing in mitten weather." It's an adorable song, and I don't really mind it cycling around my brain, but there's really not a whole lot of purpose behind it except that kindergarteners will look precious as they sing it with their reindeer antlers and missing teeth in the Christmas sing-a-long.
However, it does lend itself well to talking about my favorite classes - the Ks. They're so flipping adorable! I have one class in particular on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that I call "the huggy class." I have to stand by the door so they can all hug me one by one as they come in, or they'll mob my chair and we all get in trouble. One little boy today didn't want to let go and caused a bit of a traffic jam, and another girl glommed on and kept telling me how much she loved me. They do know how to make a girl feel special. :)
One of the songs I've been teaching them lately is "The Turkey Blues," or "I Wish I Was a Chicken." Four little turkeys sit in the middle of the plate while singing the woes of being cooked for holiday dinner. At the end of the song, we devour them, making chomping noises as we sit criss-cross, staying nicely in our circle. On the last round of the game today, they decided I needed a turn to be a turkey, too, (they're very particular about playing fair), so into the middle I went. When we got to the om-nom part, the entire class pounced on me, loudly munching. There was much giggling from teacher and students, but as I was trying to get them to go back to their seats, I suddenly felt a real chomp, right on my knee. The game came to quite an abrupt end at that point.
I think I can honestly say this is the first time a student has bitten me. At least it wasn't an ill-intentioned bite.
I do love teaching the little ones. I just don't get tired of their silliness. If I was to ever teach a "normal" class, it would be K-1s, or pre-school. But since I am not a "normal" teacher, I am happy to announce that I will shortly begin my big-girl job, teaching 9th and 10th grade choir and music theory at a charter school. And there was much rejoicing throughout the land!
P.S. I just have to share my two favorite kindergarten moments of the week.
1. Talking to the Ks about what a feast is:
Teacher: "What do you cal lit when you have a whole table full of lots of food, and you get to eat all kinds of delicious things?"
Student: "A tummy ache!"
2. When I asked one little boy how he was, his wiggly answer was, "I'm dance-dance-dance-tastic!"
Problem: the song song stuck in my head this morning was "The Mitten Song." (listen to it here) I'm not sure there's much useful storytelling I can pull out of "Thumbs in the thumb-place, fingers all together/this is the song we sing in mitten weather." It's an adorable song, and I don't really mind it cycling around my brain, but there's really not a whole lot of purpose behind it except that kindergarteners will look precious as they sing it with their reindeer antlers and missing teeth in the Christmas sing-a-long.
However, it does lend itself well to talking about my favorite classes - the Ks. They're so flipping adorable! I have one class in particular on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that I call "the huggy class." I have to stand by the door so they can all hug me one by one as they come in, or they'll mob my chair and we all get in trouble. One little boy today didn't want to let go and caused a bit of a traffic jam, and another girl glommed on and kept telling me how much she loved me. They do know how to make a girl feel special. :)
One of the songs I've been teaching them lately is "The Turkey Blues," or "I Wish I Was a Chicken." Four little turkeys sit in the middle of the plate while singing the woes of being cooked for holiday dinner. At the end of the song, we devour them, making chomping noises as we sit criss-cross, staying nicely in our circle. On the last round of the game today, they decided I needed a turn to be a turkey, too, (they're very particular about playing fair), so into the middle I went. When we got to the om-nom part, the entire class pounced on me, loudly munching. There was much giggling from teacher and students, but as I was trying to get them to go back to their seats, I suddenly felt a real chomp, right on my knee. The game came to quite an abrupt end at that point.
I think I can honestly say this is the first time a student has bitten me. At least it wasn't an ill-intentioned bite.
I do love teaching the little ones. I just don't get tired of their silliness. If I was to ever teach a "normal" class, it would be K-1s, or pre-school. But since I am not a "normal" teacher, I am happy to announce that I will shortly begin my big-girl job, teaching 9th and 10th grade choir and music theory at a charter school. And there was much rejoicing throughout the land!
P.S. I just have to share my two favorite kindergarten moments of the week.
1. Talking to the Ks about what a feast is:
Teacher: "What do you cal lit when you have a whole table full of lots of food, and you get to eat all kinds of delicious things?"
Student: "A tummy ache!"
2. When I asked one little boy how he was, his wiggly answer was, "I'm dance-dance-dance-tastic!"
:) That's such a happy post (except for the cannibalism part, that's a bit scary)! Occasionally I feel like being a teacher would be one of the most fun things ever. I recognize its a tun of work, but it's so fun to see people (especially little people!) learning. Congrats again on the big girl job, you're going to be a great teacher! :D
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