Polly, The Pollywog

Kindergarten continues. What fun we had together: Jane Leidheiser & little ol' me. She's really the elementary school's music teacher & has long been in charge of the Greater Columbus Arts Council's Artist-in-the-Schools visits for her building. We go back -- at least a decade or so in our friendship. She's always been the one to coordinate my visits. Anyhow. One of their kindergarten teachers was absent for the afternoon and in the face of the front office's unsucessful efforts to hire a substitute, she "volunteered" to take over at the K helm. Anyhow, this was the first time in that over-a-decade of my coming to her building that she actually got to 'see me in action.' Not sure who had more fun? The kindergartners or Jane??

My best chuckle of the day was when just as I was walking into the room, Jane was eagerly pouring over the sub plans, the outline & agenda of the afternoon's events. She was perplexed by the instructions, directing her to add the day's new word, to their "Word Wall." She's lookin' at me & asking, "Which one's the word wall?" As an expert guest in kindergarten classrooms across the country I pointed directly to the "Word Wall" while Jane stood there muttering under her breath -- "Well, every wall I looked at has words on it." And so they did. We made a great team. She took these pictures & sang in harmony to my songs. I cavorted with extra glee.

We chanted our extra-long science word: Met-a-mor-pho-sis! It was a seriously fun afternoon.

Kindergarten

My fabric quilt illustrations for my picture book, "You're Wonderful" always make quite a stir in the kindergarten classroom. They guess and guess how I made the illustrations, what media I used. Their typical guesses are paint, crayons, colored pencils, markers, and occasionally something more obscure like tissue paper or cra-pas. Very, very seldom do they ever guess that fabric is involved. When I pull out the original pieced quilts their jaws drop. They are amazed!! YOU made those? YOU did that? How long did it take? One of the kindergartners asked how much money it cost to buy all of that fabric. An economist in a small body. I love their questions.

IMAGINE: Arist in Schools

IMAGINE: an empty, hand-painted chair, complete with bright barber pole stripes & brilliant polka dots, too!! IMAGINE coming into a kindergarten classroom full of eager children, with songs to share and movement games to lead. IMAGINE the fun of being together to play follow the leader. IMAGINE............I've been coming to this classroom in Hilliard for over a decade. The faces are different every time, but the enthusiasm remains just as high year after year.

The Bigger Littles

Baby Birdies

Baby birdies flying up high...... fly up high. Fly down low. "Baby birdies, little baby birdies.... in the next, in the nest. Little baby birdies take a rest, take a rest. " Then a big finale with some dancin' with da boyz.

My Bigger Littles

These are the next step up in age. They are shaking those shakers way up high. And shaking those shakers way down low. Everyone's engaged. Everyone's dancing. Everyone's singing along.

Winding Up: Teenies

Here's the last visit of this year --

to my very first on-going site.
Children's Hospital Childcare.
How many years has it been?

I think, it's been 14 years.

How is that possible? One month at a time.
I've gone every month.
Have watched the wee ones turn into big siblings.
That's a lot of growing up together.
Each visit starts with a short little hop with the teeniest.
By the end of the year, they are strumming my guitar.
Eager & excited!!

Same director.

Same assistant.

Same music lady.

Some things just never change.

Oh happy day!!

Love These Faces

What a great day together. These are the preschoolers. Choosing their favorites for my last visit of the year. Ya just gotta loves these faces, these bright smiles. Lion prowling. Birdies doing puppet shows.

The Wee Ones

Shake Those Shakers

I love the month of May. It's the culmination of all the school year's work. The day by day progress is sometimes imperceptible. Yet here we are -- having arrived safely at the finish line of May. Each of those daily increments have stacked into weeks and accumulated into months of effort. Remind me next fall how much I love the month of May. May is a celebration. May is joyous. May is progress. In May, a whole class of two year olds can move as a unit, following directions. The trust has been established. The routines have been established. The enthusiasm and excitement are running on high. Let's hear it for the month of May!!!

So Far Behind

Oh. Dearie me. I've gotten so far behind in my blogging documentation. I still haven't finished sharing picture from my awesome day with my Head Start friends. I've made 3 different school visits since then and also gave some mini-concerts for WB's end-of-year family fun day over the weekend. We leave for MI tomorrow, for an end-of-the-year day. Not to mention those dozens & dozens of daisy photos from the recent morning with the geese. It's great to be plunging back into my life with abandon and enthusiasm.