Oh, Say...Can We Say?

Special Friends Day is coming up in two weeks.  It's a day where every student can bring someone special, be it a grandparent, a special aunt, an older cousin, or good ol' Mom or Dad.  There's an entire sports-themed program planned, and K-3 is singing a song, 4-5 are doing one, and 6-8 are singing one, too.

I just found out that the 1st and 2nd grade teachers decided to change ours from "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to "Star Spangled Banner."  Interesting, since "Take Me Out" has such easier lyrics, but no, apparently it has too many verses (skip some--who even cares!?) so it's on to "o'er the ramparts" and "gallantly streaming."

In two weeks, I need to teach 5 year olds words to a song they can't read.  As soon as I learned of the switch today, I sat down with my kinders and had them repeat, line by line, the lyrics to the song before we tried to sing them.  When we finished, one of the girls looked at me and said, "Teacher?  These words are too big for five year olds."

My thought exactly!!!

But we'll make it.  :)   I'm going to write the words on our flip board and do my best to add some rebuses, but it will take some creativity!  Maybe some hand motions, too... hmm.  Time to put on my thinking cap!

It's frustrating to be the odd man out.  The other primary teachers are so tight that it's easy to feel like a nobody.  Especially when they make decisions that they forget to inform you about.  They've been doing this all for so long that it's more of a bother to clue the new teacher in than just to do it all themselves.  How am I supposed to be part of a team when I keep getting left out?  Sigh.

I'm always promising myself that I will never forget what it felt like to be a student teacher, or a substitute teacher, or a first year teacher.  Is it really that easy to forget what an uncomfortable, unappreciated time it can be?