Gleaning Facebook: Gleaning Facebook: Gators in Kindergarten

 A couple of the teachers at one school forwarded pictures of today's lessons. I taught my alligator lesson four times to groups of about twenty kindergartners. We started with the old tale of How Alligator Got His Scaly Skin (Trouble) and along the way learned a little about the characteristics of science, the five senses, and the life cycle, diet, adaptations and characteristics of alligators. Kindergarteners are so much fun. Such enthusiasm! We stretched our a 19.3 ft. string and imagined our "King of the Gators" fitting that scale. "The King", of course, was fooled by that ol' trickster Bro. Rabbit who was still angry over losing his long handsome tail. And at the end we got to see the baby gator, who,indeed, has some of the beautiful golden yellow skin left that the grown-ups also had before Rabbit tricked 'em.

I chose one child from each class to act the part of the King of the Gators. 

The largest gator on record was about a 1000 lbs and 19.3 feet long.

The King of the Gators

The Gator King swims through the swamp.

The girls singing the Mama Alligators song. The boys sang the Daddy Alligators song. The teachers sang the baby alligators song.

Beside the Gator noggin, if you look carefully you will see a gator egg in a plastic box.

Tibodeaux did very well, except for very forcefully and angrily urinating as I held him for one group.

The grass was wet with dew so I set my stuff up on a little table in the parking lot and the kids sat along two sides of a corner of curb.

The two children at each side are standing 19.3 feet apart at the ends of a string of that measurement. I spontaneously decided to pick him up (after getting permission from the little fellow) and swim him through the swamp from the tail of the big gator to his snout.

At the end of the story I allowed the kids (if they wanted) to pet Tibodeaux's back and soft little feet.

Comments

Marsha Pledger
Kindergartners are so awesome I really miss them!

Bill Supon
Love it, friend!

Laurie Craw
Terrell, you do so much good for so many. I'm proud to know you (and the wife who supports you in all of it.)

David Marlin Rains
Do you know "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin?"

Terrell Shaw
I don't... but it sounds familiar.

Terrell Shaw
Kipling. Shoulda known.