Thursday, October 9, 2008

"Come and Play with Me..."

I love teaching kindergarteners! (Okay, I love them all. But today I am particularly glad to be teaching kindergarteners.) I think its a combination of the disarming cuteness that ensures the survival of the young, the fact that all my songs and stories and jokes are new to them, and the confidence that comes from knowing that you really can't go wrong with an audience for whom "What animal sounds did you hear?", "My cat had babies yesterday!", and "I have to go to the bathroom," equals a conversation. Anyway, I try not to teach them all my favorite songs in the first month of school, which is why we didn't learn the Calliope Song until today. The Calliope Song is awesome because it is simple (without becoming annoying--to me, anyway), and because the accompanying track features a variety of animal noises that sound off at seemingly random intervals during the song. It is so much fun to watch the little five-year-old faces as they react to the animal noises. First, there's surprise and a bit of disbelief, and then there's delight when it happens again. By the third time a giggle or two will leak out, hilarity increasing with each new sound, until there are more of us laughing than singing. Oh, I tell you it is good for the soul!

I can't believe I get paid to do this.

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