Remember show and tell in elementary school?
I remember taking in a cool rock I found on our vacation to Colorado, another time I took in my new kittens, Ginger and Gerry. We would go through alphabetical order of the class and when it was my turn I could bring in anything! Those were the good ole days because now my kid and every other kid in the class have show and tell (or “sharing”) every week. The items have to be able to fit in their backpack and they “can not be alive”. I am sure this is not the case in every school but in my now 5th straight year of having a preschooler this is a fact.
Yes, I have had a child in preschool for 5 years in a row. I thought I knew what was coming from show and tell this year when this happened on our way to school.
“Mommy, I have to share something today to my whole class. It has to start with the letter A.”
I am not prepared but no big deal, I will find something on the floor of the car or in my purse that starts with the letter A then next week I will be prepared with the letter B. We look on the floor. There are books and a stuffed bear, perfect for next week but not an A….crayons, nope. Juice box…wait it’s apple juice! Perfect.
“Here sweetie, share this. It is apple juice and apple starts with A!”
“No thanks, Mommy. I just won’t share anything today. I want to bring a soft toy next week.”
She is not upset and they are not getting graded on this so I guess we can skip this time. I say to myself, “we have A this week which means B next week and so on until we know our ABC’s. I got this! I have done this four times before.”
I was so wrong. Apparently this teacher does not teach the alphabet in order?! We have A then U then D…I can never keep up. I think she is using this as a trick so that the parents have to read the newsletter she sends home every week. Well played, preschool teacher, well played.
To help myself out and hopefully some of you, I have made a list of items around the house that we can send for show and tell and – it is in alphabetical order!
This is also a reminder that you do not have to make something from Pinterest every week. The little ones are happy to be sharing something from their home with their friends at school so don’t overthink it! My kids always want to take stuffed animals or toys which I am sure is pretty common so keep that in mind when I mention animals!
A:
Armadillo, we live in Texas and yes we do have a stuffed armadillo or two.
Apple, if you are feeling “pinteresty” send apple slices for the class for snack.
Astronaut
Award
B:
Balloon
Bear
Books, we always have books in our car so I use this a lot!
Braid
C:
Cat
Coffee? Maybe for the teacher. My son was obsessed with our old fashioned coffee grinder so he took that in one year.
Crayons
Clifford the big Red Dog, love him because you can use him for C or D. Extra mom points if the color of the week is red.
D:
Donuts
Dollar bill
Dime
Dinosaur
Doll
E:
Elsa, Elsa is awesome! Her name starts with an E and she is an Ice Queen!! People, Q is a tough one, keep an Elsa in the trunk for Q week!
Elephant
Easter eggs
F:
Fork
Football, we sent a picture of our family at the Baylor vs. Kansas State football game
Flower
Frog
Finger puppets
G:
Grandma, hopefully the teacher would make an exception for the alive rule for this one. We don’t have Grandmas or Grandpas in town but if we did we would definitely do this, otherwise a picture with Grandma or Grandpa works too.
H:
Horse
Hat
I:
Ice, one of my best show and tell days was when I brought in the shaved ice maker and made mini snow cones for the three year olds. Mom for the win! Makes up the for day I had to send her in with a dime for letter D.
Iguana
J:
Jellybeans
Jewelry
Jar of….
K:
Kangaroo
Key, take it right off the keychain if you have to
Kite
Kitten
L:
Lion
Letter
Lipbalm
M:
Marshmallows
Monkey
Money
M & Ms
Mom
Music
N:
Ninja
Night time item like a favorite blanket or toy
Nutcracker
O:
Olives
Orange
Owl
Oval
P:
Purple
Penguin
Painting
Pen
Q:
Queen Elsa (see letter E)
Quilt
Quarter
R:
Raisins
Round
Rocks
S:
Shell
Scar
Snake
Shopkins
Slinky
Soft
Square
T:
Turtle
Tank
Troll
Trophy
Turkey video, we have turkeys in our yard all the time so we took a video of the kids gobbling at them
U:
Umbrella
Unicorn
Ultrasound picture
V:
Vanilla Extract
Velvet
Volcano
W:
Watch
Wings
Wand
X:
Tic Tac Toe Game (X’s and O’s)
X-men
Y:
Yo-yo
Yellow
Z:
Zebra
Zipper
Zoo
