Turkeys and Indians and Pilgrims OH MY!

Right before our Fall break the Kindergarten classes at Lois Lenski Elementary put on a combo Thanksgiving / Grandparents Day show.  It was AWESOME.  Just like a little kid show should be.  They all concentrated so hard they didn't quite smile enough, they had cute homemade (by themselves) costumes, and there was great singing and a little dancing.

There are 2 morning K classes and 2 afternoon classes which in aggregate makes for a fair number of students.  They all needed their costumes packaged and their pilgrim buckles rubber banded onto their shoes.  F's teacher asked me the morning of the show if I could come help out beforehand since her expected help, the reading teacher, had fallen ill.  Sure!

Oh My.  I have never fully understood the phrase herding cats until that evening. It's late in the day for these kids, they are hyped up to perform, and they all need a construction paper buckle attached to each shoe.  Not any buckle, THEIR buckle that they made and then wrote their name on in Kindergarten style handwriting.  And while they were all neatly lined up so the kids could easily find them the first three kids to walk in the door rototilled the piles and no one can find anything and everyone is getting anxious and that makes them more hyped up and LOUD LOUD LOUD.  And for some reason very eager to pinch each other.

Now, I am not a rookie when it comes to wrangling 5 and 6 year olds.  I've worked with kids for years and have been volunteering in the classroom every week since school started so know the drill. I know where to find extra binder clips and rubber bands, I know what spoon in the bowl means, and I know the right words to say to the pinchers.  I'm not sure how it all happened, but we got every Kindergartener outfitted, some more than once after they rolled around on the floor and tore their buckles, lined up in the order they were supposed to be in, their additional costume parts neatly clipped with a binder clip, and out the door right on time.  I give massive credit to the two amazing Kindergarten teachers (who even managed a lesson on what it means when we say "Break a leg").

Me stopping F for a personal break a leg + photo op on his way to the stage.

F's in the back row, roughly in the center of each photo.

Act 1 - The Turkey Act
piles of costumes in front of the kids

Act 2 - The Indian Act

Getting ready for Act 3 - the Pilgrim Act

All four classes doing a costume change.  The little piles on the floor are their clipped together paper hats and props that I helped wrangle beforehand. 

Sadly it's been so long since I made a video I neglected to check the setting on the camera.  No HD video, we'll have to make do with the blurry stuff.  I'm also trying some new video uploaders so check the volume, one seems a bit low.

Albuquerque Turkey.  I have had this song stuck in my head for weeks.
Take a Turkey Out to Lunch.  Don't say a word!  I love how they all whisper together and then all are loud together.