Everybody is It! Lets get Crazy!

Working with the Pre K kids was by far my best experience since we've started at St Mary's. I found it very interesting that more then half the class wanted to play some sort of tag. Most of them were satisfied by wanting to be chased or chasing others. They found it even more thrilling if they were faster then the Cortland students. "I'm faster then you." I heard this quote plenty of times. The playground was so small, yet I still managed to break a sweat running around crazily with these kids. I began formulating strategies with groups of different kids:"If you go that way around the slide, I'll go the other way, and we'll catch him on the other side!" Kids do not usually like to pay attention for that long, but when it involved catching somebody or running someplace, their attention was mine. Not only were the kid's heart rates moving along, but so were their imaginations. One girl came to me with a handful of seeds. I asked her if her seeds grew pine trees. She became overly excited and figured they grew pine trees, regardless of the truth! Then said: "I'm going home to plant these seeds so all the squirrels in the neighborhood can live in my tree, and then I can kill the squirrels and eat them for dinner!" I was not expecting her story to end up so violent, but I found it intriguing. I also noticed how hard it was to get some of the shy kids to play. Some would sit like a rock inside the tunnels, and no matter how hard I tried to get them involved, they stayed isolated from the rest of the group. They would answer my questions with a head nod or a head shake, but nothing more. I noticed that one of the kids had super-man shoes. Maybe next time I can engage in a conversation about superheros with him. When we went inside for snack time, I had the opportunity to read to the kids. I read a book about a ghost who was not able to say "Boo!!" Even though it was a story, the kids were excited and interested by what I had to say. It was heart warming. They could not wait until the next page. This enthusiasm brought me to a different world. Sometimes, working with kids makes me so happy that I can channel out all the bad things in life-and hold on to that very moment and just appreciate it for what its worth.