Sep27

no bird in this bush.

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in full-day kindergarten, every day is truly a treasure trove of wonder.  in the morning, we talk about the sound that the letter F makes.  children offer their own examples, things they are familiar with in their own lives: flower, frog, fruit. then, out of the crowd, a lone voice says above the rest, ‘funk.’ what was that?  ‘i said, ‘funk. funk starts with f!’ it does indeed, thank you so much for bringing a smile to your teachers’ faces and for bringing the funk back into our lives with so much enthusiasm. you never know where you’ll find the letter F, it could be just the beginning of such an exciting word, funk.

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after a day filled with activity and learning and music, and most importantly, our afternoon nap, we set out on a hike through the woods and trails on campus. we took the binoculars we’d made out of empty toilet paper rolls and string, for a chance to see one of many birds we’d been talking about in the last couple of weeks.  along the way, we saw geese, swans, wrens, and jays.  

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suddenly, once again, a voice rang above the crowd. ‘ i saw jesus!!’. what? where? who is jesus?  the class had all sorts of questions, as they are a patchwork of cultures, religions, and backgrounds.  ‘in the bushes! i saw jesus!’  wow, hmmmmm…… maybe that’s why i never could be a part of organized religion. was i not seeing things clearly? i think not. but i guess some toilet paper roll binoculars are higher power than others. it was a day of funk and jesus. 

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86 responses »

    • @motherhood – happy she does and it struck me as hilarious that she did. as far as the woods and trails, i consider us very lucky, it’s such a great setting for natural learning of all kinds –

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  6. Now that my youngest is 9, the days of these discovery walks seem numbered, and this post shot me right back to the times all three of my girls were little chunks of awe and wonder. And funk. We most definitely had funk.

    Thanks for sharing a bit of the gold with us. It is gold, isn’t it?

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  7. My oldest just started Kindergarten, she has a great teacher too. Great for their discovery. Mine sees Jesus in the clouds. He’s everywhere and I think especially in Kindergarten classrooms with lots of love. 🙂

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  11. Funk and Jesus–how awesome. Great kids you have 🙂 My 7-year-old was less imaginative with her F work the other day. She told me F was for for. Took me a while to get it, lol.

    Q: Do you really have nap times? Didn’t know classes still did that. Seems there’s so much they want the kids to learn and the fun stuff gets cut out 😦

    Thanks for your share!!

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  20. Pingback: Freshly Impressed #6 | My thoughts on a page.

  24. This makes me want to teach kindergarten! My late mother in law (who I never got a chance to meet) taught it as well.

    Any workday that includes funk, toilet paper binoculars, a woodsy walk and a 45-minute nap sounds like heaven to me! Can I join your class? 🙂

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  28. i looked very hard on the bushes and there’s no jesus there.
    but!
    there’s most definitely a minotaurus with a raven on his back looking backwards and a polar bear approaching them from afar!…

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  31. Awww I wish my little guys had you as a teacher! Such a funny and endearing post! I love it!
    All three of our little ones had the best j/k s/k teacher. She retired the year Adam finished s/k. I am so thankful that they all had her!
    Hmmm I don’t know about Jesus in the bushes I think her binoculars need to be returned or remade, I think they are defective…lol 😉
    Cheers,
    Jennifer

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    • jenn – ty so much, that’s very kind and i’m sure we would have had a lot of adventures together – sounds like they all had a great teacher ) i agree, perhaps her binocs needed a bit of fine tuning?

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  36. Very sweet – I passed through Ann Arbor driving out to the west coast, stayed with some people in a trailer who had box turtles with shells that were strikingly similar to the pattern of their carpet, so you can imagine what it was like navigating around the space after a couple of beers. I need to work that into something, some day. I learned about FUNK in Athens, Ohio at one of their epic Halloween celebrations, in the early 90s…they seemed to be ahead of the rest of us, in terms of bringing Funk back into vogue. So it goes.

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    • ty, and happy you stopped by, love the turtle story and that is a post for sure. excellent that you picked up your funk in athens, ohio. it is true that it can be found where and when you least expect it.

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  37. I loved that, out of the mouths of babes. Have to spread that Funk around 🙂 Actually you’ll have to be careful there, you are working with the 2 most dangerous things….children and animals…but it must bring many smiles to your face 🙂

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