The Tykes have Parents

This is the first in a series of catching up blogs. I know you want to know about the performance, but I'm starting with Parent's open music day at school last week, because it is chronologically the first thing I need to catch up on- and that's just how I roll...


So parents day: I was nervous. Why was I nervous? Because all the stories I hear in the staff room are about parents being awful and meddling, and though I love their kids- I didn't want to be hauled out in to a hallway and forced to explain myself and why I was being such a rubbish music teacher. So I was nervous.

For the nursery children we sang Kalele, My Minibeast Friends, Tiny Caterpillar on a Leaf, Simama Ka and I am the Music Man which is a handy song because it takes quite a while for the kids to all get their instruments and settle down. The first class was bouncing off the walls in anticipation of the parents being there- so instead of being in class we had the performance/open class in the hall/cafeteria. There were a lot of parents so we sang Kalele which is a welcome song to all the parents. We sang for Mommies, Daddies, Nannies, Brothers, Sisters, and by particular demand: babies. We sang My minibeast friends which involves crouching on the floor and it was amusing to see the couple of children who just stood there the whole time- a little bit shell shocked by the audience ranging around them. In tiny caterpillar we had a good range of spinning into butterflies, and with Music Man I had the genius idea of handing out instruments to the little brothers and sisters in the room as well. I think we got them all back...

So that class went splendidly and was a wonderful success and a great way to actually start the day. The time went by much more quickly than I had expected it to. In the later nursery classes we got a big laugh when we got to the verse in My Minibeast Friends where the tykes had named their own insects "Princess the Butterfly" and "Darth Vader the Cricket"

At lunchtime I got a call saying that my own parents had arrived so I went and collected them and got them set up with food before heading back down to teach the reception children. In reception we only had one song to perform so I had another song to teach in order to show what that process was like. In the future I will have multiple songs to perform, but live and learn. The next time I have to do something like this will be for the Christmas Show in the Winter. Should be good times.

Some of the reception kids we charming with the announcement of their parents "My Daddy is in the blue shirt! Back there! Hi Daddy! Miss Casey, did you see my Daddy?" and also stopping the class halfway through to announce very clearly and precisely that they needed the toilet and could they go use the toilet now?

Anyhow- the end of the story is this: I got rave reviews from the parents, had a wonderful time with the tykes, and AND at the end of music club (which was very low key- I was exhausted) one of the parents brought me chocolates and flowers: this big beautiful bouquet that she handed me after she handed me the chocolates. I didn't understand that they were for me and once I finally figured it out, I was shocked! Flattered, but shocked. Beautiful flowers with sage in the arrangement so it smelled lovely.