aeroplanes and ambulances

This morning the children arrived to find their first challenge of the day was to find as many words as they could in "aeroplane". As I have not long left the undergraduate world of countdown, and spent my summer coffee breaks in hospital staff rooms doing the quizzes on back pages of newspapers (find as many words as you can from the grid, 22 = good), I was ready to get my teeth into some serious word crunching.

The first question : "Miss, can you do aerodynamic?" stumped me. Firstly, you are five; how do you know the word aerodynamic? Secondly, and fundamentally; No. You can't have aerodynamic.

Next question: "Miss, can you have Daddy?". Liz, let's think about this. What's the first letter in Daddy? "Er, d" (Read this phonetically, not Dee, but duh) Right, "d". And is there a "d" in aeroplane? "No". Ok, so can you have daddy? "No". Good.

"Miss, can you have Dan?" *Miss steels herself for a long day* Liz, what's the first letter in Dan? "Er, d". Right. Is there a "d" in aeroplane? "No miss.". OK, so can you have Dan? "No."

"Miss, can you have Hannah?" Liz, what's the first letter in Hannah? . . .

Staff Room.
The sound of a distant whistle signals the end of break, and the staff begin to make their way back towards their classrooms. Towards us, come a swarm of children, and looping around the swarm is an ambulance:
"Nee Nor, Nee Nor, Nee Nor, Nee Nor, Miss, Miss Miss! Grace has fallen over! Emergency! Emergency! 999! Nee Nor Nee Nor, Nee Nor, Nee Nor!"
My partner swiftly makes her way to the scene of the emergency, and administers first-aid, Primary School Style (Run it under the cold tap. Then dry with a paper towel.)

This emergency must have left more psychological scars than normal though, because as the children began their "busy-as-bees-in-the-hive-but-not-actually-doing-anything-trick, -under-pretence-of- changing-for-P.E.; some girls came up to me and said "Miss, Miss, Grace can't do P.E.; she's broken her leg". This was definately worthy of investigation.

I went out to see Grace, still mopping her knee with a soggy paper towel. I couldn't actually see anything, not a graze, cut, red mark, or anything. Hmm.
I thought back to my Mum; what would she do in this situation?
Mum being Mum, I instantly advised Grace that the only possible cure was to chop off her leg immediately. If nothing else was available, I would have to use the rusty saw in the stock cupboard. Strangely enough, she was one of the first changed for P.E.
Thanks Mum.

My highlight of today was reading to the children. There is something magical about having 25 five year olds sitting at your feet, eagerly drinking in every word of the story. Thank you class two. See you after half term.