We Live in a Great Neighborhood

If you want to give yourself a treat become a Class Grandparent…..not a Class Mom or Class Dad. Classroom parents have to plan parties, collect money and do work. A Class Grandparent is….well, a grandparent. Our job is to show up at important events, bring presents, take lots of pictures, collect numerous hugs, and then...go home. I particularly like being a kindergarten class grandparent because kindergarteners are always doing fun things (important events) and they are the most generous with their hugs.

I first became a class grandparent five years ago when Trevor was in kindergarten. Now, I visit in Kate's kindergarten class.  Trevor and Kate call me “G” so that's what all the kids started calling me.  My visitor name tag at school says Tommie Netzer, but to the kids, teachers, and staff I am just “G”.

CTP makes the “taking presents” part of my grandparent job easy. I have a closet filled with samples of new CTP products. I have everything from books to stickers in that closet. I take something every time I go to school. In return, I ask the teachers to let me take pictures of anything “cute” that they do.

People sometimes ask me where I come up with all of my ideas for product.  It is really very simple; I steal the ideas from creative teachers.


                             A few weeks ago, I took Mrs. Hill two packages of 10” cut outs.

                                       One was the multicultural people.

The other was the big speech bubbles.

 I asked her, “Do you have any ideas for these?”

Her answer was “YES!”

They were just starting a unit called We Live in a Great Neighborhood.
Its culmination was to coincide with Open House.
She wanted to do something to decorate the kindergarten hall.
Look at what they did!

     

First, she paired the kids. Two kids worked on one person. 
Together, they decided which neighborhood person to make.

Then, she used poster board to make simple patterns
for shirts, pants, hats, and shoes. 
The kids would use the patterns to make clothes to dress their people.

Finally, she put out a stack of construction paper and
turned the kids loose to create their neighborhood.

The kids had to make a building and a car that would go with each person.
  (Notice the McDonald's sign.)

The McDonald's guy makes people happy!

The kids had to decide what their person liked about his job. 

Mrs. Hill wrote their answers in the speech bubbles.

The doctor likes taking care of people.

The soldier protects our country.

The baseball coach is an important neighbor.

On Friday, Mrs. Hill invited Bill Tate, the mayor of our neighborhood,

to come to class for a visit.

He has been mayor of Grapevine for a total of 32 years.
He is quite a storyteller. He has lived in Grapevine his entire life and remembers when it was just a sleepy little farm area.

We discovered from Mayor Tate that Grapevine has 212 restaurants. 

That takes a bunch of cooks. 

(I calculated that you could eat in a different restaurant every night for more than six months and not make it to all of them.

Maybe I should take that as a challenge.)

I think Mayor Tate would make a great class grandparent because

he really likes stories, kids, and hugs! 

The kids are right...We Live in a Great Neighborhood!