Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Garden School Tattler




It's a madhouse at school...too much is going on. Today the fund raiser comes in by truck between 3:00 and 5:00. We will call you to pick up all food items.


This is my least favorite week through the entire year, but it always seems to end well. I get really nervous about the play. Right now, most of the kids know their lines. Getting them to project is the hard part. Trying to get them to remember where to stand is almost like herding cats. It's a young group, and when your four year olds are holding down the fort... it makes for some sleepless nights!

The play is one of the best things we do, however. It's a real community effort. Every year I think that we should do this or that differently about half way through, and then I remember that kids only want to do this for about two weeks, and then they're tired of it. We take time out of class to practice, practice, practice, and half the time we are practicing being quiet. And that's a good thing to establish -- that we can be quiet. But try to explain that to very young children.

The behavior of an entire group changes with the play. It's almost remarkable how much they learn. It's a real growing experience and one - when it's over - teachers regard with a real sense of pride - right now I think teachers are feeling a little like we're on top of the pyre waiting for the white horse of Friday evening about 5:00 p.m.!

Mrs. St. Louis has made costumes again. She's really good at inventing and bringing those inventions to reality. Now if we could get her to paint more...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The plays are ALWAYS wonderful! I know they are a lot of hard work for all of the staff, but it is well worth it. Faith STILL talks about being "Queenie" in the St Patrick play and it is one of her favorite Garden School memories. She is also driving me crazy trying to remember all the words to "Albuquerque Turkey." If anyone has the words, pleeease e-mail them to me.
And keep up the great work on the plays, you are making wonderful memories that will last a lifetime.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
Stacy