The best material comes from Kindergarten. Mainly because you just don’t know what’s going to come out of their mouths.  It’s Friday afternoon and I have two classes left; Kindergarten and First.  It’s like the ultimate test to see if you really have what it takes to be a music teacher the last 6 days of school before break.  Kindergarten has done a wonderful job of walking down the hall apparently, based on the positive reinforcement from their teacher, but as they walk into my classroom, there’s an immediate clog at the door because they all want to share some little bit of info with me.

“I have chapped lips.  I used chapstick but it’s getting worser”.  “I finally lost my tooth Mrs. Bush!”, as she pulls her lip down to give me a closer look.  “This is December so it’s almost my birthday in January!”.  “My bow came out, can you put it back in?”.  “Mrs. Bush, can you tie my shoes”.  And on and on.  When I finally have a chance to talk to them as a whole, I say “wow, I love that four of my friends walked right in and sat on their dots.  Great job!”.  Then, the rest of them go scrambling to their dots to start asking questions.  “Are we going to sing the snitching song?” (otherwise known at “I’m Getting Nothing for Christmas”).  “Can we dance to Cray Cray Christmas?”  “Are we going to play instruments today?”  So, just getting them started is a challenge.

Then the fussing starts.  “He’s sitting on my spot!” “She’s annoying me – I told her to stop but she won’t stop”.  All the while I’m trying to get them to sing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” with a forced smile on my face.  Then I see two of my little girls with concerned looks on their faces trying to comfort a little friend who is sitting with her face in her hands.  When I ask her to come see me (picture me now sitting in a chair in front of the circle), she looks at me with a little tear stained face and tells me that she’s missing her mommy.  Well, this little one tends to do this a lot but the mom thing (or now maybe the  grandma thing) kicks in and I tell her to hop up on my lap so I can keep teaching.

I don’t know if this is really kosher anymore, but the kid needed a hug and little bit of mommy-ing.  And the entire class was distracted by her crying and I had stuff to do. As she begins to calm down, this little voice pipes up in the back and says “Hey!  You’re like Mrs. Claus!”.  Well okay then.  If Mrs. Claus had her hair colored every month, I suppose I could be.

I have this little love/hate relationship going when it comes to teaching Kindergarten.  On one hand they are just so little, excited about EVERYTHING and so many experiences are new.  I mean, there’s just not the same excited intake of breath from the 5th graders when I pull out the rhythm sticks as there is from the Kindergartners.  On the other hand, 5th graders aren’t usually showing me their loose teeth, asking me to tie their shoes or have snot constantly running from their noses.  Well, not many anyway.  There are so many procedures that have to be taught for those little guys that sometimes it feels like it takes forever for them to catch on.  But there’s nothing like a little guy looking up at you at the end of class saying I love you and giving you a hug.  Most 5th graders wouldn’t be caught dead doing that.  I’m just very grateful that I only have to teach them for 50 minutes a day and not all day like the classroom teachers.  Those women are saints.

Not that I’m counting, but there are five more days of school which includes a whole school singalong as the last thing we do right before we leave for break.  I’ll be earning my money for sure.  The Kindergarten will be sitting on the floor with all the big kids right in front of me, excited to sing with them.  And I’ll be there with my Santa hat, listening to the excited intake of breath as each song is introduced.  While I’ve been doing this forever, I need to remember that for them, it’s the first time and it’s an opportunity to give them a musical memory that they may remember forever.  Merry Christmas!