Today I took Katie and her friend Jalynn to a summer music class for kids who will be entering Junior Preschool in the fall. Katie and Jalynn both plan to start school in the fall as they will be 3.5 which is the eligibility requirement. They were both excited to go, and as Katie likes to do anytime Jalynn comes over to our house, she took over the communication for Jalynn. She was telling Jalynn everything about how to get into our car and where to walk on our way to class to where to sit when they got in class. When the teacher asked Jalynn her name, Katie said "This is my friend Jay-Jay" (that’s the nickname her mom usually calls her).
Katie sat down on spot #8 with Jalynn on spot #7. They were joined by 6 other kids including one 6 year old who was there to support his 4 year old sister who wouldn’t get off his mom’s lap. I just sat in the corner – adults weren’t really supposed to be part of the class. During the class they mostly sang songs along with a CD – there wasn’t much singing or instruction. They pulled out some percussion instruments for one song and the kids enjoyed that. They sang the ABC song and Old McDonald. Then they sang a song that went like this "Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut." The same theme went along and they named all the major fast food joints – McDonalds, Burger Kind, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Taco Bell, Dairy Queen and they threw in Red Lobster for a change of pace.
Near the end they took a break to have a fruit snack and get some water. The class lasted about 40 minutes and the girls seemed to have a good time. I was a little disappointed because they didn’t ever do introductions in the class; they didn’t do any songs without the CD player; they did a bunch of motions with the songs, but the teacher didn’t tell them what to do – she just did the motions as the song went along; and they didn’t learn any songs. Maybe we were spoiled by the class that grandma took them to last summer where they learned songs, met the other students and got up and marched around the room a lot.
Obviously the teacher made a big impression on her, because here are Katie’s recollections from the class:
Becky: Katie, what was your teacher’s name from class?
Katie: Angelina
Me: It was Rachel
Still the girls enjoyed the chance to get out of daycare and have something special to do during the day. We’ve got four more days, so hopefully they get the chance to learn some songs.
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