Ode to Dr. Jean

The last few days have been absolutely amazing!  I am in awe of all that has happened: Dr. Jean's visit to my school, attending my first Kindergarten Conference, meeting up with other bloggers for dinner.  I want to pinch myself to find out if all of this really happened.  But I know it did.  (...or did it??? I may wake up from this beautiful dream any minute.  Sigh.)

This blog post will be devoted to just one of these amazing events:  Dr. Jean's visit to my school.  (I promise to write about the other two AMAZING events in later posts.  Yes, I know I am overusing "amazing", but really it all was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  REALLY!!!!)

I have waited a few days to post about Dr. Jean's visit because it is really hard for me to find the words to describe how wonderful it was.  If I had to sum it up in one word it would be:  MAGICAL!!!! 

I have loved, admired and respected Dr. Jean for a long time.  But now all of my feelings for her have grown tenfold.  So what words do I use?  How about if I say that she is even better in person than on her cds, dvds, and YouTube clips?  The children and adults in the cafeteria were mesmerized for the entire 30 minutes she was with us.  She was enchanting and personable.  The children were eating out of her hand and so sad when the assembly ended (even though it was time to go home).  They wanted her to stay forever (and so did I).  When my class lined up to go home, several children spontaneously began singing Tooty Ta.  So we all joined in.  The children wanted to know if Dr. Jean would be back tomorrow.  When told no, the children asked if we could write letters to Dr. Jean.  (Which we did the next day.)

The next day several children reported to me that they went home and taught their parents ALL of the words to the songs that Dr. Jean taught them.  These children told me that their parents loved the songs, too.  What fun!

In case you are wondering why Dr. Jean came to my school, read all about it here.  Yes, it was a complete (and wonderful) fluke!!!

... and to be inspired by Dr. Jean visit her here.

Love to all,
Camille

Really BIG News

Make sure you are sitting down when you read this, because this is big, big, big, big, big!

Are you ready? Really, really ready????

 Guess who is coming to my school today? 

Hint #1:  Think F.A.M.O.U.S.

Hint #2: Think kindergarten.

Hint #3:  Think singing.

Hint #4:  Her initials are J.F.

Hint #5:  If you kiss your brain, you can figure this out.

YES!!!!!  The one and only Dr. Jean is coming to MY school.  That's right, the school that I teach at EVERY day is going to be visited by Dr. Jean.  MY school!!!

Why my school?  It is an amazing story (at least to me).  It all started with a blog post titled "Miracles" (which is so appropriate!!)  

On Monday, January 2, Dr. Jean wrote a blog post and called it "Miracles".  I read the post and loved it so I posted a comment telling her she was inspirational.  I mentioned that kindergarten teachers in California were so excited because she was coming to the annual kindergarten conference in Santa Clara.

Then the amazing thing happened.  Dr. Jean wrote back to me (TO ME!!!).  She thanked me for my comment :) and then asked how close my school was to the San Jose Airport because if it was close, she could come and do a music concert at my school when she flew in on Thursday.  What?  WHAT?  W.H.A.T.?!?  So I did what any blogger would do, I checked Mapquest to make sure I was absolutely correct in my answer.  According to Mapquest my school is 15 minutes from the airport, which was close enough for Dr. Jean to make arrangements to come to my school.  Did I mention yet that Dr. Jean is coming to MY school?  Yep, it's true Dr. Jean is coming to my school.  Today.

I am so nervous!  I have tried to take care of every little detail so that Dr. Jean feels welcomed and loved and appreciated and, and, and ...  you get the idea.   My hope is that there are no details that I have missed.  I just really want Dr. Jean to have a marvelous time!!!  I know that my children will!!!

If it goes well, I will share details in my next post.

Love to all,
Camille

Happy, happy birthday ideas

How much do you love Dr. Jean? I think maybe she is wonderful times a gazillion!

I was just reading Dr. Jean's blog. In this post she shares the idea of acting out a birthday cake with children as candles and as the cake. Meanwhile everyone is chanting about the birthday. How cute is that? (Do all primary teachers love, love, love cute? I think so!) Since I have had quite a few birthdays already this year (I mean the kiddos, not me: I only have one a year.) I will have to wait and try this idea next year. But in the meantime, here is what I do ...

Each child begins the day with a birthday bag on their desk. (See my previous post for an explanation of the birthday bags.) Then later in the day my class sits on the floor in a birthday circle. (Or as my kiddos this year call it: "birthday square" since we sit on the perimeter of our square carpet.) I pass around a stuffed bear and each child turns to the birthday child and says something - I aim for a compliment, but at the beginning of the year, "Happy birthday" will suffice. The birthday child says "Thank you" and the other child says "You're welcome". (I try to fit in manners whenever I can!!!) Then the bear is passed to the next child. Next we sing "Happy birthday" and then we sing "Happy birthday" using sign language. The birthday child tells us one thing she/he really likes to do and we create a "birthday sign" by "signing" the first letter of the child's name performing that action.

I love the compliment time. It is so precious to hear what the children have to say. The birthday children are always beaming throughout this event.

Camille