Saturday, September 14, 2019

PART 2: Ready or Not! Here Comes School!


Funny stuff is still happening at school. Here is one more installment of (mostly kindergarten) anecdotes from the beginning of the year.

One afternoon, I jumped up from my floor spot to grab my guitar. The kindergartner sitting next to me tried to move into my seat.

"Please don't sit in Mrs. Duggan's spot!" I called to him.

"If Mrs. Duggan has to sit on your head, your head will be in Mrs. Duggan booty!" another student said.

"That's not an appropriate word for school," I said (while stifling some giggles.)


One little girl brought her class's stuffed dog to music. We sat the dog up front so he could make sure we were doing a good job in music.

"What is the name of your dog?" I asked the kids.

They stared at me for a moment.

"Ghostbusters!" said one little boy.

"Your dog's name is Ghostbusters?"

"No. Dog," another kid said.

"His name is Beau," said a little girl.

She was so confident, I just assumed the dog's name was, in fact, Beau.

"We hadn't even talked about a name," the teacher told me when she came to pick them up.

"Well, I guess his name is Beau now," I said.

I call one of my kindergarten classes the "Play 'Freebird' Class." Every time I pull out my guitar, they start making requests.

"Play the farm one!" (Old MacDonald)

"Play the school one!" (Wheels on the Bus)

"Play the elephant sitting on people one!" (Willoughby Wallaby Woo)

"You guys are like, 'Play Freebird!'"

I figured I might as well amuse myself even if they wouldn't know what I was talking about. For some reason, they thought that was hilarious.

"PLAY FREEBIRD!" they shouted.

Oh great! I hope I don't get phone calls.


One of my students walked into choir the other morning, carrying his breakfast. I knew I needed to let this kid eat because he is prone to hangry-ness. I told him he could sit on the side and finish his food.

We started warmups, and I noticed a commotion on the top row. 

"Let's keep focused," I encouraged.

"There's a safety issue!" the kids said. (They know me way too well.)

The potentially hangry student had crawled under the risers and was eating his breakfast there.

I somehow managed to get the kid out from underneath the risers to the table in the back of my room and still maintain control of the seventy kiddos in my choir . . . probably because I'm a rock star.


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