1st June 2007
No, this is not a post about Japanese wildlife (I'll do one of those another day!). This is the title of a song the Reception children presented at their first performance assembly. It turns out that each class (or entire year for the little ones in Reception) hold their own assembly once or twice a year.
We had to decorate a white t-shirt with some animal pictures which provided a weekend of wonderfully messy entertainment for Rhiannon (and a near nervous breakdown for Tim who is a little obsessive about cleanliness, tidiness and getting things "right".)
Not having attending one of these events before, I was intrigued to see how it was run. And I was incredibly impressed at how well the children behaved - both those in the audience and those "on stage". Mums and Dads were seated at the back of the hall, armed with various video cameras and normal cameras. Teachers lined the sides and their students were led in quietly and sat down without fuss.
After a short introduction by the head teacher, the children sung this song. I won't inflict the actual video on you, and I can't find a decent copy of the original on YouTube, but it was originally sung by Hi-5 if you are inclined to look for yourself. I can't get the darn thing out of my head now I've refreshed my memory of it, so beware!
Some kids are natural and outgoing performers. Rhiannon is not. She did pretty well though. She didn't take her eyes off the teachers prompting the movements to do, and I could see she was not entirely happy about being in front of so many people.
After the performance, the rest of the kids were led back to their class and the attending parents were allowed to grab a quick hug and a series of photos. Unfortunately, my camera wasn't really up to speed so the photos didn't come out well enough to display.
I found it strangely proud and moving to see my little girl performing, even though she obviously found it difficult. But it wasn't a tear-jerker. More an ear-jerker...
