#peskypirates

[treygallaher]

"Pirates, More Damn Pirates" 18x24in. (detail) 5min. gesture charcoal on paper Too much fun!🤣❤️☠️🤘🏼 #drawing #charcoal #charcoaldrawing #gesture #gesturedrawing #lifedrawing #pirates #pirateslifeforme #toomuchfun #piratesmoredamnpirates #peskypirates #treygallaher (at San Francisco, California)

[readingmum]

Sharing the Love

There is not much scarier than a room full of preschoolers. Sure, the general vibe as a parent doing the drop-off/pickup is more, ‘oh, look at the adorable handprint pictures’, ‘ahhh, lookit those cuties playing tag’. 

And sure, there have been moments where I’ve mad-dashed my child to the communal toilet to look on as her educator attempts to clean poo out of the shoes of a child that didn’t make it. Respect for that educator. (As a high school teacher I’ve never had to deal with poo that didn’t come from my own child.)

But. Put me at the front of the preschool class and give me the responsibility of holding their attention while maintaining respectful classroom interactions. Scary. Damn scary.

I did it today though. 

For 7 minutes (was that all?) I read Pesky Pirates to an absolutely enthralled group of kids. 

There was a wobbly start. I asked too many questions about pet ownership trying to make an analogy about books being pets i.e. we need to care for them and be so gentle in holding them. NEVER ask preschoolers if they have a pet unless you want 20 synchronous stories of cats, dogs, fish and birds. (Rookie mistake, I know!) 

And there was a moment when I knew the educators were hovering like shadows over my shoulder, ready to save me if and when I lost control of the kids’ attention.

But then the words started to flow...

“5 pesky pirates sailed the seven seas...”

We counted the pirates down as a group as the pages turned. We commented on the other things we could see in the illustrations. 

“Hey, there’s a mermaid.”

“No. It’s a whale.”

“No. It’s a shark!”

All too soon I hit “BANG! Close the Book. No more pirates anymore.” 

The silence hung there just long enough for me to look over the kids’ expressions frozen in enjoyment and anticipation of where I was leading them and I thought, ‘Oh, no. What now?’

But then I remembered to Q&A what we read and the call and response between teacher and student/ adult and child must on some level be instinct. Instinctual too is the ebullience of children trying to share and the patient reminder of the teacher to hands up if you want to speak.

I carefully placed the book on the class bookshelf. I said the kids could borrow my book for today. That they needed to take care of it. Be gentle. Return it to bookshelf if they found it elsewhere during the day.

Breathed trust and willed hope that the 3D pirates are still attached this afternoon when I pick up Dragongirl.

Fingers crossed.