Giggles, Tickles, and Dancing

Days with my first graders are never dull, old, or ever lose their gleam. I can never get enough of their little giggles, and high pitched shrieks of delight. They think they are so smart, clever, etc. They've taken to trying to scare me every time I walk into the classroom. Today I had to leave class briefly, and when I returned the only girl present looked at me with bewilderment--the boys had disappeared. And where to? It took me only a second to discover them hiding behind the trash can, under their desks and squished up against the wall trying to disappear into the side of the cupboard. What gave them away was Derek's little giggle.


AND, they are tickling fiends. Some days it's an all out war. Derek and Koala will sneak up behind me and start tickling my knees or try to get to my feet. Most days I win, but on occasion they outsmart me and have me rolling on the floor. Last Friday I let the kids decide what they wanted to do for their activity and immediately Stephani raised her hand and said, "Tickle Miss Shannon." Oh, no, I thought. They promptly held a vote,  there wasn't much I could do...I was out-voted 6 to 1. And let me just say that I much rather be the tickler than the one being tickled--being tickled hurts. It was a great act of charity and good-will on my part to actually follow through, and honor their vote. Though the tickle session was short lived.

AND we've recently started teaching all of our kids how to dance. Not your booty-shaking, break dancing, free-styling bit, but the cultured, distinguished, refined kind. The owners of the school decided that they wanted to teach the kids etiquette and manners and it's going to culminate with an end of the year dance. I'm pretty excited about it. Let's be honest, I'd never refuse to attend a dance party, at least not now. Last Friday we had an assembly if you will, and two of the teachers demonstrated how to do the waltz. They had several of the students come up to try it out, to help them warm up to the idea of dancing in pairs. I didn't think it would work, but I'm AMAZED at how much enthusiasm all of my students have displayed!Today in both of my first grade classes, I taught my students the basic steps and then had them practice. My second first grade class got so into it, and the boys even wanted to dance with the girls. They picked it up so quickly and are going to be pros by the time we have to learn a second dance this Friday.

Anyhow, I'm grateful for the little joys in life: giggling, tickling, and dancing.

{Derek attaching himself semi-permanently to my leg.

This is at least a bi-weekly occurrence}