Kindergarten class

I was at the kindergarten today and one of the teachers there showed me some of the pictures she'd taken of me in action a few weeks back. She was putting them on the kindergarten website and so I asked her to forward them to me so that I could show them here. It is not often that I get to see what I look like when I am teaching/playing with the kindergarten kids. Do you realize (did I realize) that I've been doing this for 15 years? Nowadays I get winded swinging kids around or rolling around on the floor with them. I hate to say it but I feel my age!

I think in this first picture I am leading a song "How are you? I'm fine thank you. How are you? I'm fine and how are you?" and we point to each other on the "How are you?"

Besides teaching simple words and finger plays and reading picture books to the children I occasionally bring my guitar and that seems to be a big hit. The kids love to bang at the guitar and touch the strings etc.

I don't know what all is in the background in these pictures. Obviously that is a tree that they've made up there on the wall and the children have probably decorated it with some craft. You'll notice under the tree there is a raft of cubbies that holds backpacks, art supplies etc. In this kindergarten they don't use desks, just little blocks for chairs and basically the kids work off the floor.

Please take notice of the quilt that is covering the piano. When Leiya was in kindergarten (15 years ago) the class mothers made two piano coverings, one in green that was made of tree blocks and one in red made of house blocks. This must be the green one. Since then there have been many quilts made and they are on the walls or over the bookshelves here and there throughout the kindergarten.

Well, that's a glimpse of my "teaching" style.