This afternoon, I was at Evan's first grade classroom. Each week, one of the students becomes a star and gets to bring someone in for show and tell, and today that was me. I thought I was going to be there for fifteen minutes, but was there for forty five, telling stories and singing songs.
I told stories from around the world and nothing threw those first graders. They followed the Australian animals in "Tie Me Kangaroo Down", though "wallaby" was not an animal they knew. They liked the sounds a Jamaican toad makes.
I met Evan's little girl friend Eva. He likes her because their names are so similar...and I think because she's a very bright little girl. Evan asked her to sing a song for me. No, she said, it would be "inappropriate." No, said Evan, it would be "appropriate".
When I was done, I chatted with the children who wanted to tell me where they had been, where they came from, and in a couple of cases, where they were moving. They knew where their relatives lived, at least the names of the towns and states, though they were sometimes confused about the exact geography.
What amazed me was how mobile modern families are. One girl's family is going to Arkansas. Another's came from California. They reminded me of the children I tell to at military bases. Those kids are moving all the time.
When I grew up, people stayed put. My great-grandparents, grandparents and parents lived and worked on the same farm. My grandfather and father went to the same one room school I attended.
I wonder where all those children will wind up.
I told stories from around the world and nothing threw those first graders. They followed the Australian animals in "Tie Me Kangaroo Down", though "wallaby" was not an animal they knew. They liked the sounds a Jamaican toad makes.
I met Evan's little girl friend Eva. He likes her because their names are so similar...and I think because she's a very bright little girl. Evan asked her to sing a song for me. No, she said, it would be "inappropriate." No, said Evan, it would be "appropriate".
When I was done, I chatted with the children who wanted to tell me where they had been, where they came from, and in a couple of cases, where they were moving. They knew where their relatives lived, at least the names of the towns and states, though they were sometimes confused about the exact geography.
What amazed me was how mobile modern families are. One girl's family is going to Arkansas. Another's came from California. They reminded me of the children I tell to at military bases. Those kids are moving all the time.
When I grew up, people stayed put. My great-grandparents, grandparents and parents lived and worked on the same farm. My grandfather and father went to the same one room school I attended.
I wonder where all those children will wind up.
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