The Mouths of Babes

As mentioned earlier, I often begin class spontaneously with whatever occurs to me, knowing it will lead to something I actually have planned. So today when the 1^st graders walked in, I sang a spontaneous blues:

 

“Well, the sun finally came out, so I bought myself a lemonade (2x)

Then I had to come inside ‘cause it’s time to teach first grade.

 

It was so hot out, I decided to add some ice (2x)

Then got myself some lunch, a salad and brown rice.

 

The salad bar had some fresh ripe red tomatoes (2x)

I put ‘em on the greens and then got me some potatoes."

 

And that was the segue into the planned game, One Potato. Off we went and some 30 minutes later ,had learned all three sections of my version, with its many variations. The kids sat down at the end and we had a few minutes for questions. 

 

“Where are you from?”

 

“San Francisco.”

 

“How old are you?”

 

“72.”

 

“How did you get so old?”

 

“I was born and some time went by and then I was one and some more time went by and then I was two. And it kept going for 70 more years.”

 

“Do you like being old?”

 

“Actually, I like a lot about it! But what I mostly like is that if I wasn’t this old, it means I’d be dead.”

 

“ But then you’d be in heaven.”

 

“ Well, maybe yes or maybe no. But I can tell you that I don’t have to wait to find out. When I’m playing and singing with kids like you, I’m already in heaven. Any more questions?”

 

One girl’s hand was straining to the sky, so anxious to ask me one more thing. When I called on her, she asked:

 

“Did they have pencil sharpeners when you were a kid?”

 

Kids. You gotta love 'em.