Mr. Wind

"Mr. Wind whistled at my door, asked me to come and play...."

One of the songs we sing in March, which seems appropriate for that time of year, but here we are in May and the wind is still blowing just as hard as ever.

While things are whirling and spinning outside, garbage cans rolling around,

and the flag snapping on the pole, inside the classroom we are experiencing the same

kind of turbulence. It's as if a tornado is brewing but not quite ready to release it's fury. This would rank as one of the loud days.

I know the wind makes animals frisky, something about that blustery breeze gets to them and their energy level escalates. I'm beginning to believe it has the same effect on children. From the moment those sweet preschoolers got off the bus, I could tell it was going to be "one of those days," and my 14 years experience of working with children didn't let me down, I was right.

During circle time, they couldn't sit still. Poking each other, wiggling in their chairs, and whining - then at snack, everyone is talking at once, then talking louder to make sure they are being heard.

Still wiggling in their chairs, the drinks are spilling, napkins are falling on the floor taking the

snack with it and of course, more whining. But it wasn't until free play that the noise rose to a whole new level. A few of them decided to play "puppy dog," which meant crawling around and

barking. To make it even more interesting, "chase the puppy" became the new game - that's

when the screeching started, and the child on all fours figured out running is faster than

crawling so it evolved into "catch me if you can." "No running in the classroom," we

remind them. So, now we're back to barking puppies. Clean up time was like herding cats, they know the routine but on this windy, blustery day their listening skills went right out the door. Which is exactly what we did, we bundled everyone up, took their energy and gave it to the wind, thus creating a perfect storm.

It's what they needed. Free to run, screech, chase and be one with nature. I almost believe it was the wind all a long, beckoning them, calling to their little bodies, and stirring them up giving us no choice but to unleash the fury to the outdoors.

It was a beautiful sight actually, everything blowing, whirling, and spinning in perfect harmony.

As the song continues, "We pretended we were little red kites and we soared and we soared all day. Oh, we soared and we soared all day....."