Preschool Demons

We have a new boy in our class, and as always with new students, they aren't familiar with our songs and activities. We usually give them a good couple of weeks before they are one with the class, so until then, it's all about getting used to new things. One of our songs require a scarf in which we'll put it on our head and walk around the room, put it on our elbow, stomach, back etc...

Well the new guy did not like the scarf on his head, actually by his expression, I believe he was repulsed just by touching it. After our songs, dance and a brief circle time, we break for snack. On the menu was, bananas, goldfish crackers and cereal. As our certified teacher was helping a few of the children with the banana, by cutting it up into bite size pieces, she told the new boy that she felt the same way about banana's, the way he felt about the scarf. Not that he understood any of the conversation but teacher K has always despised banana's, the texture, taste and smell. This led me to relate my feelings on shaving cream. We use shaving cream as one of our sensory activities. We'll squirt the cream on the table in big piles and let the children play with it. Some love to smear it around and work it through their fingers, others use toy cars to make tracks but regardless of how fun it is, I avoid that table. I hate the smell of shaving cream, even if it says unscented the aroma fills the air with it's stench, if it's on your hands the smell won't go away and will linger the entire day. Yeah, I am not a shaving cream fan. Anyway, as we were all sitting around the snack table sharing our preschool demons, I asked the other para pro what her demons are, but then I got to thinking, I know what hers are. The nurse in her is always on the lookout for things that could pose a choking hazard or anything else that could be unsafe or a health risk for our little people.

She is our Safety Sam. The thing is, before she came along we never had any issues with choking, or a unknown deadly epidemic surface because a kid came to school with bad hygiene, or anyone dying because they ate some food that dropped on the floor. But one never knows with preschoolers, anything can happen, so we consider ourselves lucky to have her expertise in our classroom. The best thing about having more than one teacher, is where one falls short the others will pick up the slack, which keeps things running as smoothly as......well, as smoothly as possible.