Just after doing the register and the general confusion that is sorting the school dinners from the packed lunches the children do a variation of ‘Show and Tell’. It works like this: the parents and carers are given little forms called ‘My Journey’ and they fill these in whenever something has happened outside school. The children share their Journeys during ‘Show and Tell’. The ‘something’ that might have happened is interpreted in many ways and makes for an eventful few minutes after the register. One morning Saqib arrived with a slow worm that he had found in his garden. Although it started the morning in a plastic tub, it quickly escaped – or perhaps it was set free – and proceeded to slither its way under the tables accompanied by excited yelps from the class. Mrs Swift bravely pounced and returned the wriggling creature to its box. Saqib was not put off, and when he came to the front to share his ‘My Journey’ he thrust his hand in and grabbed the slow worm, taking it upon himself to wave it under the noses of the nearest children so they could get a closer look. They happened to be some of the more sensitive children in the class and a closer look was not what they wanted. To restore order I suggested we put the slow worm back in his box and sing him a lullaby – ‘There’s a worm at the bottom of the garden’ of course. On communal reflection with the rest of the class Saqib reluctantly agreed that it should be released into the wilds of the school vegetable patch rather than live out its days in the equally but differently wild wilds of the classroom. He sloped off with Mrs Swift and the slow worm to return it to its natural habitat. There was a snails phase. Every Wednesday for about a month a child brought in a snail for me accompanied by a detailed ‘My Journey’ about where they found the snail, what they had called it and what they had discovered it liked to eat. There were varying degrees of snail, from so small we needed a magnifying glass to see it to a sort of snail zoo in an ice cream tub without a lid (and yes, there were some escapees), to a Giant Snail in its glass case that we were allowed to keep for a couple of days (the lid stayed firmly shut on that one). Molly took her snail out at playtime (unnoticed by Mrs Swift or me) and she dropped it and it got squashed. I had to abandon Jolly Phonics carpet time to discuss the much deeper issue of life and death. A lot of medals accompany ‘My Journeys’. These have mostly been won by very sporty parents (there appear to be a lot of those in this class) for participating in running and cycling races. The children wear them as proudly as if they had won them themselves and speak of their parents as though they had been in the Olympics. I am almost inspired to dig out my trainers... Then there are the photos. Snaps of train journeys, bus trips, wet beaches, Nanna and Granddad, baking, scootering, walking the dog, special festivals. I love these glimpses into the children’s world when they are not at school. And I love the little snippets of information provided by the children – the Granddad who snores, the dog who sometimes poos in the house and makes Daddy mad, the Dad who left the shoes too near the sea and they got washed away and Mummy got mad, the Dad who couldn’t breathe after running a race, the Mummy who was all sweaty when she had finished a race, the Nan who made a cake and forgot to put the sugar in it. Glimpses of some incredible journeys and a bit more showing and telling than the grown-ups might like...
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