some things never change (unless they are not politically correct)

Teaching 5-7 year olds is a strange experience in many ways. It's over 20 years now since I was starting school myself and I don't remember much about it. One thing I do remember is the series of books with which we were taught to read. They featured a group of animal friends with three-letter-word names. I don't remember any of the stories or what they got up to but I've never forgotten their names. So it was a bit of a surprise hearing one of my boys read the other day, to find that he was reading about the exact same characters. He read me a story about a race in which Ben the Dog, Meg the Hen, Deb the Rat and Sam the Fox all set off whilst Pat the Pig decides it is too hot to run and chooses to have a little nap instead. It was very strange, hearing those names and those characters again. Pat the Pig made me laugh though - 20 years ago, his name was The Fat Pig. I guess that's just not PC these days?


I had another teaching first today when L's tooth fell out. He came to see me in the playground to tell me that his tooth had come out and we needed to find it. One small tooth, one huge playground full of children running. So I found it for him (yep, just call me Eagle Eye Warwick!) and sent him off inside with D who was feeling poorly so he had tucked his trousers into his lime green socks (I kid you not) because it "kept him warm and made him feel better".

So there it is - September 19th, my first tooth incident. No vomit or puddles yet though, long may it continue!