1-26-10 Telling Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach in Ms. Short's 1st grade class
Friends:
Today was my second day at Strehle Elementary in Avondale, Louisiana. My day began in first grade with Ms. Short’s class. Many of the students remembered me from last year and were very excited to see me. They loved hearing the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach and then doing scarf activities. They were such a wonderful group of students to work with.
My second class was Ms. Giroir’s PK class. I told the story of Madame Poulet and they loved the song in the story. Ms. Giroir told me that they sang it all day and one of the boys even pretended to be Madame Poulet, the chicken in the story. They also had fun dancing with scarves to world music.
1-26-10 Ms. Giroir and her PK class dance with scarves
After PK, I went to Ms. Badeaux’s second grade class. The students were excited to see me and loved hearing Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach. It was so cute when one of the little girls laughed uncontrollably because I “sneezed” in her hair. They enjoyed dancing “La Morenada,” the dance of the butterfly. Ms. Badeaux told me that the class was learning Spanish. Through the song, they added two new words to their Spanish vocabulary (“manos” meaning “hands” and “pie” meaning “feet”).
Following second grade, I went into PK special ed. I don’t have pictures because my hands were full, literally. One of the students, Jevon, an autistic child became attached to me and wouldn’t leave my lap. Pat Runge said that it was so unusual for Jevon to respond to a “stranger” like that and that I generated a response from him they had not seen all year. Normally agitated and unresponsive, Jevon was calm and relaxed the entire time I was in the room. Another student, Shae Lynn, also gravitated to me and claimed my other arm, hanging by my side for nearly the whole time. I told “Mr. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle,” sang my song, “ABC Rock,” and sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” The teachers didn’t want me to leave. 
After lunch, I headed to Ms. Avist’s first grade class. I showed them my books and gave them a sneak peek of Mama’s Bayou on the Elmo. Afterward, I told Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach and they loved it. We finished with creative movement to world music. Even Ms. Avist danced! It was so much fun and a great workout too!
1-26-10 Ms. Avist's 1st grade class moves!
Next, I had Ms. Till’s fourth grade class. After discussing the “Storytelling Tool Kit” (imagination, body, face and voice) and the “Three Cs” of story theater (cooperation, communication, and collaboration), we moved into our story theater exercises. They loved the role-playing activities. Their class was assigned the story, “The Country Mouse and The City Mouse.” We didn’t have enough time to create the story chorus but will work on that during my next visit.
1-26-10 Students in Ms. Till's 4th grade class portray a football field goal scene
My last class was Ms. Johnson’s third grade class. The students were very chatty and it was challenging to settle them down long enough to move to the next activity. They processed their thoughts out loud and became so excited about the activity. I was able to assign parts for their story, “The Frog and the Ox” but unable to work on the story chorus with them. At the last minute, one of the students created a beat and a rap for the story chorus. It was like magic – just perfect! I can’t wait to see it all put together when I return to their class.
1-26-10 Students in Ms. Johnson's 3rd grade class portray a mechanic fixing his car
It was a great day but I had to rush quickly out of school. I had a literacy night event at another school – Bissonet Plaza Elementary in Metairie. Tomorrow, I see another seven classes!
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
