Sunday 14 June 2015

Short legs and fairy teeth




"Do you know...?"

This is the phrase the Sunnyside Team hear most frequently from the Reception little learners in their class. 

Whenever a Team member is approached by a little learner announcing "Do you know?", they 'll automatically grab the nearest post-it note and pen in readiness to note down the little gem of information that inevitably follows.

As far as the Team is concerned, do you know moments are special because these random, spontaneous little learner utterances invariably have nothing to do with anything, they are purely a piece of information that a little learner feels compelled to share at that particular moment. And without exception each do you know declaration brings an extra ray of sunshine to the school day. 

Past little learner do you knows have revealed some remarkable facts, like for instance: A Spanish Dachshund is blue, the tooth fairy turns your teeth into dentures for dogs, and hamsters repeat everything you say!

It's been a while since the Team has shared any do you know moments, so they feel absolutely duty bound to do so now. In addition to latest do you knows courtesy of the current little Reception learners, Mrs Crayon has penned a verse celebrating the do you know of a very disappointed little learner from a couple of years ago, who shared some information regarding the gender of his newly acquired pet rabbit.




















What's happened to me rabbit?


What's happened to me rabbit? 
Something isn't right,
Something odd has happened
To me rabbit overnight.

When he ventured from his hutch,
This morning bright and early,
I noted instantly,
That he'd turned into a girlie!

I'm not one to point the finger,
But the pet shop is to blame,
For me rabbit's change of sex,
And me rabbit's change of name.

I'm left feeling rather miffed,
And I'm not sure what to think,
About the fact that I am lumbered,
With a pet that favours pink!






"I always knew I was a girl called Polly!"


Saturday 6 June 2015

Grumpy ducks and paint pots






Picture the scene if you will.  

It is the end of the school day. An exhausted Mrs Crayon is staring vacantly at the contents of the sink in the classroom. The sink is brimful of dirty paint brushes and paint pots. As she turns on the taps and begins to fill the sink with water, Mrs Crayon is suddenly transported back to the time when she was standing at a very similar classroom sink back in November 2012, preparing to do battle with a dozen paint brushes that were firmly welded together in a pot of hardened PVA glue. As she innocently turned the taps full on and squirted washing up liquid into the sink, a little learner appeared alongside her and told her in no uncertain terms that if she let the taps run 'the ducks wouldn't have any water.'

Unsure whether the little learner was referring to the ducks of Whippy Cove or just ducks in general, a somewhat conscience-stricken Mrs Crayon found herself heeding the little learner's solemn warning by turning off the taps and leaving the gluey paint brushes to soak in the detergent. In no way did she want to be the one responsible for draining the Whippy Cove duck pond, and leaving the poor Whippy Cove ducks high and dry! 

As her thoughts returned to dealing with the present day painty mess in the sink, Mrs Crayon felt totally inspired by all this reminiscing about ducks and decided at the next convenient moment to write a duck poem. So after washing up at home that evening (with just a minuscule amount of water in her washing up bowl) Mrs Crayon penned the following. 



Oh, spare a thought for all the ducks


 Oh, spare a thought for all the ducks 
That live near you and me,
For when you're running water
The ducks don't get any.

A duck bereft of water 
Is not a happy chap,
He'd boldly go in search of more
If he could read a map!

Oh, spare a thought for ducks near you,
And all the ducks beyond, 
For when you're running water
You're emptying their pond!



"Oh, for heaven's sake....who left the taps on?"