"Excuse Me, Colorado is Missing!"

Oh, I LOVE my job! I think I drive some people crazy because I say it so often! Yesterday (ironically, Friday the 13th!) was one of the golden days of teaching.

Fridays are my “Just Threes” day. This group is happy, delightful, funny, encouraging, kind….I could go on and on!
While I do have themes and learning objectives, I also follow the children’s lead and support their interests, not just what *I* think they should learn. We have a few 3’s, early 4’s that happen to love geography! The others are getting intrigued!
Yesterday, in the middle of Children’s Choice (there were towers being built, rice excavated, caterpillars examined, pizza being made…) I felt a light tap on my leg.
“Excuse me Mrs. Linden, but Colorado is missing.”
I look over at our new US puzzle, and sure enough, all of the states in in place EXCEPT for Colorado!

Me: “Ok everyone, Colorado is missing! Let’s all search for Colorado!” Mrs. G and I break into “Where Oh Where is Colorado?” and “Oh Where, Oh Where Has Colorado Gone, oh where, oh where can it be?”

The children joined in: “Are you stepping on Colorado? Who’s Colorado? Look if Colorado is under the blocks! Are you sitting on Colorado?….”

Then we heard “I found Colorado!”

Yes, he found Colorado, but it was from a different puzzle!

The search continued:

Then, “I FOUND IT! HERE’S COLORADO!”

It was sitting on the magnifying glass all that time!

It went back where it belongs!

A little while later, there was another tap on my leg:

“Mrs. Linden, the Earth is spinning!”