This week's lesson: yes, a longer story can be done and done successfully with a wiggly group. It just might not look like how you think it should look like. Know how you can make a recipe from a book but no matter how closely you follow the instructions or how good it tastes when it's done, yours will never, ever look like the picture? Similar.
Oh but wait, here's the REALLY awesome thing from this week. I WROTE MY OWN FINGERPLAY, ABOUT MY OWN FAMILY. AND THE KIDS LOVED IT. IT'S CALLED "TEN LITTLE MARTINS." IT INVOLVES BUTT SPANKING. 'kay I can stop shouting now. BUT IT'S REALLY COOL THAT THIS HAPPENED.
First things first:
We opened with sit-down-shut-up, which I am going to start referring to as SDSU, so don't start thinking of San Diego colleges when you see it, and then the usual songs. Then on to Stella....
Group #1 liked this... wouldn't say they loved it. Reading "verrry, verrrrrrry" slowly and quietly was effective in keeping them involved in the story-- there's a repetition to the text that pops out when you emphasize those lines. Otherwise it's just... repetitive.
Group #2 felt the repetitiveness, I think. Though, I blame Louis. Have you read Interrupting Chicken? by David Ezra Stein?
Of course you have, it was a Caldecott Honor. And friggin' hysterical.
So Interrupting Chicken pops into the middle of every story his father reads him and adds what he thinks should be happening. Well, picture Interrupting Chicken as a chubby-faced African-American boy, and Chicken's father as a long-suffering Head Start teacher. Louis is one of those kids who is having a lot of trouble adapting to a school setting. I usually just leave Louis out of my recaps; in some ways, he's kind of irrelevant. He bops around on his own on the edges of storytime, jumping in when something catches his attention. A typical storytime interaction with Louis goes something like this:
(class files in. All sit neatly except Louis.)
MISS AMY: Good morning, cla--
LOUIS: I know you!
MISS AMY: ss!
CLASS: Good morning, Miss Amy!
MISS AMY: I
(Louis slumps over onto the floor as if dead, one arm limp across his prone body)
MISS AMY: am so happy to see you here this
(Louis gets up, grabs a toy and throws it)
LOUIS: Aaaaahhh!!
MISS AMY: morning.
(teacher grabs Louis and loud-whispers "shhhh!!!")
MISS AMY: We're going to read some
(Louis runs three laps around the room)
MISS AMY: wonderful stor
LOUIS: I know you!
MISS AMY: ies.
I kind of barely notice at this point.
I suspect the kids in the class are heading that way, but it's hard for them not to be distracted when Louis gets loud or has a meltdown, which he usually does about twice per storytime.
Anyway, Louis was not super into Stella. He slumped over. He did laps. And eventually he had a meltdown. I pressed on while the teacher did Louis repair, but the pull of "verrry verrrrry small"s was, sadly, not strong enough to bring the kids back to the story. Not the best setup for the next one, one of my favorites, but also one of the longest books I've EVER read in storytime.
Oh, I love that I can say this. It went so great!! I kept my pacing slow, drawing out words long and adding emphasis on some, and even wiggly Group 2 stayed with it. I was right that the first half is kind of slow, but: the wording is perfectly constructed. Each animals says, each time, not just the amount of cake she/he is taking, but restates that it is half the previous amount. In the second half, the same thing-- they each work in the number of cakes AND the fact that it is twice as many as before. And it doesn't get boring! McElligott varies the wording enough on each that it reads like a natural conversation rather than math homework.
Group 1 stayed with the story better than 2, less bored-looking wiggling. But both groups did eventually squirm. It took probably more than 10 minutes to read this one story. At the end, though, in group 2, I heard at least three voices shout "again!" Surprised me because they, okay, they weren't just squirming, they were falling over on the floor and in some cases moaning. But as soon as it wrapped they could not stop talking about it. And all the yummy cakes!
So, yaaay for The Lion's Share. Thumbs up. Oh and Louis listened to a little bit of it.
Now is when I inserted my OWN, PERSONAL FINGERPLAY, TEN LITTLE MARTINS. I told the kids "guess what? this song is about MY FAMILY! Once we were all little Martins!" Are you ready? You just think you are.
One little, two little, three little Martins,
Four little, five little, six little Martins,
Seven little, eight little, nine little Martins,
Ten little Martin children.
Give them milk and make them finish it, (pretend to hand over glass of milk, then shake finger, looking fierce)Give them milk and make them finish it,
Give them milk and make them finish it,
Ten little Martin children.
Catch 'em in the mud and scrub their hands, (mime grabbing child and then vigorous hand scrubbing)Catch 'em in the mud and scrub their hands,
Catch 'em in the mud and scrub their hands,
Ten little Martin children.
Grab them up and spank their bottoms, (mime scooping up child, then spank self. eee!)Grab them up and spank their bottoms,
Grab them up and spank their bottoms,
Ten little Martin children.
Hug them tight and kiss good night, (hug self and then air-kiss)Hug them tight and kiss good night,Hug them tight and kiss good night,Ten little Martin children.
I promise you, it represents all of my childhood, in its entirety.
And yeah, they loved it. You should hear a room full of kids spanking themselves and giggling one day. (I know, spanking, not so popular. But I was spanked. I'm not opposed to it within reason.)
I didn't even get to this one with Group 2. It was slow progress through Stella, Lion, and Louis. I did read it to Group 1, and heard comments like "the baby is cute!" The person who really loved it was one of the Head Start teachers, who immediately asked if she could come back later and check it out, because her baby son is named Leo. And she did.
On to Week 4..... in which I face a bit of trepidation. Oh no, not that! she gasped! Heh.
--Miss Amy
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