An Afternoon with my Kindergartners, Swimmy and Cory

I think one of the more dynamic jobs is that of a teacher. Okay, okay, maybe i'm biased because I am one, but really, a teacher's day is always full of surprises – from children who are usually quiet then all of a sudden they can't stop talking to students who unexpectedly, can read, then there are students who would make your jaw drop because of a thought that they would blurt out out of nowhere. That's exactly what happened to me last Wednesday, 24^th of February 2010. The day before the 24^th EDSA Revolution anniversary.

I thought it was just an ordinary day. I prepared myself to tell a story though I knew it was going to be a fun story-telling session already (well, at least for me, I know it's going to be fun :) ) and that I will for sure give it a hundred and ten percent because the story that I was about to tell was written by one of my favorite children's book writer, Leo Lionni. It was going to be an afternoon with “Swimmy”.

For those of you who do not know Swimmy, let me introduce him to you.

Swimmy's a tiny black fish who led a school of tiny red fish to swim together, making themselves look like the biggest fish in the sea. With Swimmy as the eye of the now, big red fish, they were able to scare away the big fish that was preventing the school of little fish to play and explore the sea for fear of being eaten by the big bad fish.

And so the story-telling session started. I read the book. I tried changing voices (I'm not really good at it but i try to add some entertainment value ;p ). Based on the children's reaction, I think it is safe to say that they had fun. They even clapped as soon as I said, “...and they swam happily ever after!”

After reading Swimmy's story, we proceeded to doing our engagement activity for the day. My kindergartners are smart. Very witty! They finished their activity in no time. As I was about to recap the day and give them a sneak-peek of what tomorrow will be like, I asked them if they still remember why we didn't have classes last Monday. They said in unison, “EDSA day!” So, I asked if they knew the story behind the EDSA Revolution (by the way, our question for the week was: How do I show love for my country? so this was very timely). I was amazed that they knew the chronology of events...seriously! Our discussion went something like this:

Teacher: Do you know what happened during the EDSA Revolution?

Class: Yes!

Student MC: People Power, teacher.

Teacher: Why? What's People Power?

Student JC: Teacher Marcos told someone to shoot Ninoy.

Student AD: The people got mad.

Student JC: Cory became president (I think here, student JC meant Cory ran for president)

Student MV: Teacher!!! Cory was like Swimmy, she led the people!

Wow! Upon hearing that, I had goosebumps! These children are really super!

Student MC: The red fishes are the people.

Student AD: The big fish is Marcos (then, he corrected himself--), MISTER Marcos!

Of course, I grabbed the opportunity and had them make an impromptu activity. I asked them to draw and label the EDSA Revolution characters they mentioned during our discussion opposite the characters in Swimmy's story.

I thought they had fun doing the activity. I am posting the photos of their work that Wednesday aternoon. I'd like to share my memories of that afternoon with you.

I was there in EDSA when the revolution happened. That event in our country's history, I would say, is the closest to my heart. But now, the 24^th EDSA Revolution anniversary would probably be the most memorable EDSA Revolution anniversary in my book.