Summary
Early Years teachers, this one’s for you! We’re kicking off Little Learners Month at Teach Starter, which means we’re dedicating March to all the amazing teachers inspiring young and eager minds. This week’s guest on For the Love of Teaching is foundation teacher Nicole, who you’ll find on Instagram as Teaching This Way!
Listen in to this cute and hilarious episode where Nicole shows some of the funniest things her students have disclosed during show and tell in her classroom over the years. Nicole also talks about the benefits of teaching speaking and listening skills in early years classroom.
Coming up on For the Love of Teaching is early years teacher Ally, who this year has a grade 2 class, and she’s going to share all about her experiences teaching literacy with The Daily 5. Later in the month I’ll chat with another teacher, Ally, who teachers early years special education in Texas.
We’ve produced a stack of new Little Learners resources for K-3 classrooms and are excited to share them with you.
Join us in our new For the Love of Teaching Facebook group, where we chat about the podcast, feature live vids of guests, and talk teaching!
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For the Love of Teaching is a podcast by Teach Starter. We make quality, downloadable teaching resources that save teachers hours of time and make their classrooms buzz!
Full Show and Tell Shock and Awe Episode Transcript:
Bron: Show and tell. These three words can strike fear into any teacher. As important as the skills of speaking and listening are, especially in the is handing the floor for five-year-olds can have hilarious consequences. Any the question, where did you get it? Do you like it? How does it make you feel? Hi and welcome back to For the Love of Teaching. I’m Bron and I’m here today with Nicole and Nicole is a teacher down in Victoria and she has an Instagram page called Teaching.this.way with full stops in between all of those words where she talks about all of the amazing, hilarious and bizarre things that her little tiny students do. So welcome to the show, Nicole.
Nicole: Hey, thank you. What an introduction.
Bron: Well. Yeah. I have loved following your journey on Instagram and I can always hit up your highlights reel for an amazing giggle. What, what do you love so much about teaching in the early years?
Nicole: Uh, look, it’s the things they say. You can’t deny that they’re just young and they come out with these amazing quotes that you think, Oh my goodness, if your parents knew you were saying that they would die!
Why do Students Say Such Funny Things During Show and Tell?
Bron: Actually that, that is concerning to me cause I’m a teacher and a parent. And often I wonder what does come out of their little mouths when they’re talking to people at school and I’m not there to, you know, gag them.
Nicole: Yeah. And it’s more so what do the kids say to the parents aren’t telling me like what the teachers aren’t telling me. Like I would never tell the parents half the things the kids say.
Bron: Yeah. And I’ve heard my fair share of embarrassing teacher kid’s stories come out of their mouths too. So we’re, we’re all just on par. You’ll, you’ll find out soon enough, Nicole.
Nicole: Oh don’t say that. Send my kids to school with a little blurb like, do I say this? The secret is a home secret.
Bron: Yeah. Home secret. I like that, a little bit of coaching on the drive to school every morning.
Nicole: Kids need a lot more coaching than what parents putting in. I think .
Bron: Yes. Could not agree more actually. Well on that note you have found that um, that your little classroom and particularly your show and tell time has been a fountain of hilarious content for your Instagram stories and the innocence is so gorgeous. But I love how you replicated on your Instagram stories for the whole world to hear.
Nicole: Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it? Confidentiality over here
Bron: Look you, you are protecting their identities very well, but we’ve got a couple of little snippets of things that your kids have come out with and we’re just going to have a listen to those.
Nicole: It’s always so innocent. Like they don’t know what they’re saying. They really don’t.
The “Special Snip” Show and Tell
Child: Good morning, boys and girls. On the holidays my dad got a special snip so we can’t have any more brothers and sisters. Any questions?
Bron: Okay.
Nicole: The basically is going to go down as one of my favourites ever. Like I don’t think it can ever be beaten if you are parents. Huh. It’s really good to send your kids to school with a prompt, like take this photo or take this Teddy. So this child came to school unprepared for show and tell and this was just the first thing that came out of his mouth. Like this is what happened on the holidays. It was a big deal for our family. Oh my goodness. I died. So when the kids are doing show and tell, it’s not uncommon for me to be like, you know, signing a diary, the gluing, some marking book. You should have seen my head snap around. Like what? Sorry, what did you say honey?
Bron: And what was, how was it received?
Nicole: Uh, maybe the kid didn’t really, tune into what I was saying until it got to any questions. And usually the questions are like, oh, so boring. Like do you like it? Where do you keep it? But they couldn’t ask those questions. So the first question was, “What do you mean by special snip?” Oh my goodness. And I was like, Oh my goodness, what are they going to say? And you just sit there. So like nervously.
Bron: Oh my goodness.
Nicole: I actually don’t know, mum just kept saying special snip and then there’s hands like Mrs. Smith, what does special snip mean? My response is probably just like a as like I think you should ask mummy what that means. Cause sometimes parents make up words and make up special names to things and I don’t really know what that means.
Bron: Well you had, that was the end, right?
Nicole: Yeah.
Bron: Well done Nicole because I don’t think I could have kept my calm in that situation. That is so awkward.
Nicole: Um, and the thing is like you never know what one family is willing to talk to their kids about compared to say another family or the circumstances that are going on in one one kid’s world could be completely different to where another kid’s at with their understanding of things like parents say a lot with their kids. That’s what I’ve learnt. And some families don’t.
Bron: Was that a really fun morning tea staff room discussion after that?
Nicole: It was the best. I kind of said the quote and then sat there like, guess who said it? And like I just can’t look at a dad now. I’m just like, Oh yeah, how are you?
The Santa Myth Show and Tell
Child: Good morning everyone. Last night my mum told me that Sam’s is not real. Are there any questions?
Bron: So were there any questions about Santa not being real?
Nicole: Oh my goodness, you should have seen my head snap around so quickly and interfere like nothing else. It was terrible.
Bron: Oh gosh. Dead. How old are your students? Like they’re four or five aren’t they?
Nicole: Five and six year olds but 100% believe in the magic of Christmas. And so they should!
Bron: Of course. And sorry was this, did this happen at Christmas time?
Nicole: Oh yeah. December. I think it was like second last week of term, prime Santa time. You know, that’s the time of year when you’re like, Santa is watching you, misbehaving.
Bron: Oh, do you use that in the classroom?
Nicole: No, I meant the parents at home. But you definitely mention Santa. I’m like, ah, yeah.
Bron: Yeah, for sure. No, I was going to say, I thought that was only like purely the domain of parents, the whole Santa bribery thing.
Nicole: Um, you mention Santa and elves in the classroom. They understand that he is everywhere.
Bron: Oh my gosh. And it only takes one to spoil it for everybody, doesn’t it?
Nicole: Oh, it was, it was really, really bad. I think I just shrugged it off and went, do you know, everyone does Christmas differently and some people go to church and some people spend it with their families and some people have presents under the tree and some people open presents on mum and dad’s bed and everyone’s Christmas is a different.
Bron: Oh, I like that. I like that you kind of just rolled, you just kind of steamrolled it. Like you just went, went somewhere with it and kept just going and going until you forgot where you started.
Nicole: Yeah, exactly. That’s all taking is, isn’t it? You start talking about Santa, you realise that there’s no handbook to Santa. There’s no handbook they give to parents saying this is how to do Santa because every parent does it differently and every parent talks about it differently. Like Santa has a magic key that comes in your house. Santa has a magic chimney he comes down, or Santa gives you one big present. Then he gives you 20 little presents. Some people have a stack of presents, some people have a stocking, and once we’d start talking about that, they actually notice the differences.
Bron: Yeah, that’s right. It’s inevitable. I mean, they’re kids, but they’re, they do notice things. They pick up on things and eventually, yeah, they’re gonna start asking some tricky questions.
Nicole: Yeah. I had a child decide the bunny wasn’t real and she knows that the Easter bunny is not real because Santa told her.
Bron: Oh!
Nicole: I was like: Oh, okay.
Bron: So she got that information straight from the top.
Nicole: Funny how the Easter Bunny’s not real, but Santa is.
Outing Dad on His Sickie Show and Tell
Child: Good morning boys and girls. My dads is having a sickie today so he can play golf.
Nicole: The last one.
Bron: Oh my gosh. So, um, did kids did, did anybody know what a sickie was?
Nicole: I don’t think anyone knew what a sickie was. I sat there thinking, what a great idea. I might do this tomorrow as well.
Bron: Like what a fabulous idea. This dad’s on to something.
Nicole: Yeah, because that dad’s really onto something. I haven’t had a sickie for ages. Like I don’t think any of my kids knew what a sickie was. They would, all they got out of it was dad’s playing golf today.
Bron: Oh, okay. So they were like, yup. Yeah. Way to go. Daddy, you deserve it. Yeah. She probably thought it was fantastic. It was a boy or girl.
Nicole: It was a girl, she is a little girl and her dad is um, how do I say it? He has a very high up job.
Bron: Okay. I thought you were going to say the dad’s the principal or something.
Nicole: Dad’s the principal. He’s not here.
My Mum’s a Bad Driver Show and Tell
Child: Good morning everyone. My mum’s a bad driver. She nearly hit a kangaroo today and told me not to tell dad. Are there any questions?
Nicole: The thing I love about this one is it don’t tell dad not, don’t tell your class, don’t tell your Tate chat. Don’t tell everyone you say today. Just don’t tell dad.
Bron: What was dad going to say? Are you okay?
Nicole:I don’t know how you’d like, I think dad would have said something along the lines of mum being a bad driver.
Bron: Yeah, it probably, she’s probably like, you know, it would’ve been worse if she actually hit it because then someone would have had to tell dad.
Nicole: Yeah, exactly. That as a teacher you always see kids say, please don’t tell mum, don’t tell mum I did that. This was like this time I’ve got don’t tell dad.
Bron: Oh my gosh. Like that’s the first thing you’re going to say these couple of parents and goes, so how’s about that kangaroo? You nearly hit the road.
Nicole: The funny thing is I did see the mum that day and I said, “Oh, your daughter had some really interesting show and tell today I and she was like, “Oh, was it about going to school and driving?” I was like, “It was!”
Bron: Busted.
Nicole: I said my favourite part was when she said how dad,
Bron: Oh yeah,
Nicole: Mum’s face said it all. I was like, yeah.
Bron: Oh my gosh. Yeah. I think I feel like, yeah, she’s like, kid, do not tell him please. Yes.
Nicole: Mom was very much like, Oh, I see. She was quick to tell you though. I was like uh-huh she was,
Bron: Yeah, let this be a lesson. They tell us everything.
Nicole: Yes. This is your lesson to say and don’t tell your teacher.
Bron: Yeah, let’s go home and have a quiet chat.
Nicole: Okay. Don’t tell dad and don’t tell Mrs Smith.
Benefits of Show and Tell in the Early Years
Bron: Yeah, so I was, I was thinking about all of these funny things that children said to you and like they are great fodder for having a laugh, but really when and and also a little bit risky, they’re a bit risky for us as teachers because we put it all out there when they’re about to stand up and say something publicly in front of their little peers. But Nicole, what are the benefits of speaking and listening activities like show and tell when you’re teaching inn the early years?
Nicole: Oh look. Show and Tell is normally, I would say normally quite boring. It’s usually like, “This is my toy plane. I really like it. I keep it next to my bed.” Once the kid said they got it from Kmart and I’m like, that’s a great one. And now they’re all like, “I got it from Kmart. Family photo from Kmart”.
Bron: Isn’t it funny how they’ll take something that you said like some sort of little little approval or positive reinforcement and go, “Oh she liked that. I’m going to go with it next time.”
Nicole: Uh, whenever you say, “Oh, that was a great question”. Like that’s all day off from then on out. “How did your toy make you feel?” Cause someone asked that once when we were learning about feelings and I said, “That’s a really good question”. Oh, everything. Now: “How does it make you feel?”
Bron: Well it is a good question. Oh that’s awesome.
Nicole: Yeah. Show and Tell is, really important. You know, there’s a big part of the curriculum about speaking and listening and show and tell ticks all those boxes. Like, I’m not at the front. The kid’s thing. It’s the kids running it. The kids getting out the front, they’re talking about their home life usually. Uh, they’re bringing that to school and then transferring that knowledge to their friends and their friends are getting the opportunity to ask questions and hopefully not boring questions.
Bron: Yeah, no boring questions.
Developing Active Listening Skills in Show and Tell
Nicole: Yeah. Sorry. More active listening skills.
Bron: Yes, exactly. Active listening is a huge thing. Um, I think it’s a life skill that a lot of people need to focus on even as adults because like how often do you go to a theater or a cinema and people are watching something but they’re also on their phone.
Nicole: Oh, all the time. Like we constantly need to be entertained. Like you watching TV, the ads come on the ads on his painting anymore. You pull out your fine and you’re instantly looking for the next entertainment Avenue where you’re not necessarily talking as much and showing your partner, your P’s that you listening to what they’re saying and taking it in like this. So many times, Oh God, you know, you’d go shopping and someone’s like, Oh, I have a great day. And you kind of like, Oh yeah, you too. But then when they say, I’ll see you later, and you go, yeah, you turn and you’re like, Oh, I did not listen to what you said.
Bron: It’s like everybody’s kind of operating on autopilot. You’re kind of, you’ve already got your answer there before you’ve heard, listened to what they’ve said. So that’s really good for little kids to get that exposure to not only the speaking side of it, but like you said, the active listening side of these sorts of tasks. And also even just the social and emotional learning that comes out of this. What are some of the skills that kids get from being part of an audience?
Nicole: I often give examples to my kids about me and my husband and I to them. I said, “Do you know when my husband’s talking to me? I don’t roll around on the floor, cause it shows that I’m not listening”. They love hearing stories like that. “It’s like rolling around while someone’s doing Show and Tell, do you think you’re showing them active listening skills?” When you give them an example of an adult doing what they’re doing, they’re instantly like, ah, Oh, okay. No, not good. Yeah, that’s right.
All right, well thank you, Nicole for joining us today on For the Love of Teaching. It’s been lovely chatting to you about any questions.
Nicole: Thanks for having me.
Bron: What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever heard come out of a little student’s mouth while doing Show and Tell? Email [email protected]