Technically Invisible

Wow – what a great day we all had — crazy at times, but we need to shake up the routine once in a while to make it memorable, I think.
We met outside this morning as an entire school to hear about Constitution Day from Mr. Knowlton, and to listen to Mrs. Langmead sing the Preamble song from Schoolhouse Rock!.

When we meet students outdoors instead of in the classroom, the GOOD teachers remember to bring out their signs. Here’s mine:

Except? I forgot it in the room. And THEN I ran into one of my favorite mentors… – so by the time I arrived on the lawn, there were hundreds of students out there… Yikes!  My poor, poor students — what were they doing without me?????

Um, they were standing in line. Waiting.  For me.

Back in the room, after settling in at our desks – we listened to Day Five of our Schoolhouse Rock! video.  Each week, we will hear a new video. By the end of every week, students are singing along like they have been hearing it for years.  Today, I got all teary-eyed (no one noticed) because Three IS a Magic Number to me – Third Grade is a magical year, and I’m very excited to have such a wonderful group of students…  If you look closely – you’ll see Miss Sally (my mom) in the video.  She volunteers every week and is already head-over-heels as well.  You’ll also see a blurry section of the video. New camera.  I have no clue why it did that.  Learning curve is steep for me, sometimes!

The video ended, and then I told your children a story…. about how when I was in 6th grade, there was a teacher named Mr. Monaghan, who taught a few doors down from my classroom.  He used to play Robert Preston’s Chicken Fat in his classroom, and we could hear it (enviously) down the hallway….

I’m quoting from Wikipedia here:

“In 1961, Preston was asked to make a recording as part of a program by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness to get schoolchildren to do more daily exercise. The song, “Chicken Fat,” which was written and composed by Meredith Willson and performed by Preston with full orchestral accompaniment, was distributed to schools across the nation and played for students in calisthenics every morning. The song later became a surprise novelty hit and a part of many baby-boomers’ childhood memories.”

From what I gather from hopping around the Interweb – not everyone has warm feelings about Chicken Fat?? Really?  For those students who had it played over their school intercom everyday during the 60’s, apparently the memory isn’t as warm and fuzzy as it was for students of Mr. Monaghan a decade or two later….

After re-connecting with Mr. Monaghan this summer, I was reminded of my wistful envy of those students who were able to exercise to Chicken Fat in his classroom. It was fun, and memorable!  I Googled the song, and then it hit me… HEY!!!  I’m a teacher!! I could subject my… TREAT my students to Chicken Fat, too!!

Before I knew it, Chicken Fat Fridays were born!!!!  Yaay!!!!

Here’s the song, for those who aren’t already Googling it already  (you know you want to!!)…

And here are your children, who jumped in with two feet – willing to give it a shot.

Push-ups!!

Sit-ups!

It was an exuberant start to the endless possibilities our future Fridays hold.. Join us sometime for some fun and fitness!

Don’t go thinking that was the end of our fun for the day — this was only the beginning.  We squeezed in a WHOLE BUNCH of learning, and ended our day with the now World-Famous Fun Friday Free Time. I snapped some pictures of the happy 204-ers….  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!!!!

Whiteboard Art

Build-A-Bear Fun

Pebble Art with Friends

Dominoes EVERYWHERE!!!!

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