I'm Learning Things From Preschool Too!

Creativity has never been my strong point. Anytime I've embarked on a creative venture, I have needed very specific instructions. I can not think of anything on my own, and I can rarely ever figure out step three if it's missing in a four-step process.

Enter my thoughtful neighbors who invited Brynne and me to join their preschool group. There are just two other little girls, so it's a small group. I quickly agreed, realizing it would be great for Brynne. It was too late when I realized that I would be teaching the class at my house every third week, and, what's worse, I'd be in charge of what we did during my weeks. One of my neighbors is a former elementary school teacher, so she has been really good to bring me ideas each week. I have also relied a lot on my friend Denise, who is also doing a preschool with neighbors. Denise is kind enough to pass all her ideas onto me. The two of them have literally been my saving grace as I've delved into this preschool business.

(Most of Denise's ideas work wonderfully. The only exception is her "song" mug. She has lots and lots of colored popsicle sticks in a mug. Each stick has the name of a song on it. The kids take turns picking a stick and everyone sings the song. After a song is sung, the stick is supposed to be turned upside down so another one will be picked next time. When I first borrowed the mug, my preschool kids loved it. We sang all the pink and purple songs, and then turned those sticks over. When I borrowed the mug the second time, however, I could not convince the kids to pick any colors other than pink and purple. They didn't seem to care that those colors were turned upside down. That's what I get for having a class full of girls!)

The picture above is of Brynne and one of her classmates holding the octopus masks they made today. Do you think I came up with the idea by myself? No, of course not. Although, I am feeling pretty good about it because the idea is actually a combination of an idea I got from Denise and an idea from one of my neighbor's books she gave me. (The other picture is of all three girls wearing Indian hats -- thanks for the idea, Denise!)

There was one time just after Thanksgiving when I did something totally on my own and felt really good about it. I felt even better when Denise called me later to ask for details on what I'd done because she wanted to do it with her kids. Brynne was sick the day before I was to teach preschool, so I wasn't able to get over to Denise's as planned to make copies and finish making plans. I woke up to a flash of brilliance -- I had a "water cycle" day. We froze things, boiled things, waited for things to melt, etc. I won't go into too much detail, but you get the idea. The most important thing is that I came up with the idea on my own and the kids loved it! This experience was akin to a miracle!

One other funny experience, while I'm on the subject: One of my first weeks teaching, I was excited to have the kids do finger painting. I'd never done it before (since I was a kid) and thought it would be fun. When I got the paint out, however, I noticed it wasn't really finger paint. I didn't have a Plan B and didn't even have paint brushes, so we went ahead and finger painted anyway. The kids looked at me like I was crazy when I gave them permission to dig in with their fingers, and I was really glad the other moms weren't there to witness the prodeedings. That's when I knew for sure this preschool thing was going to be a growing experience for me too...