It all started with a shamrock plant. On a day just before St. Patrick’s Day, one of my teachers lent me her shamrock plant to show at circle time. We looked at it, we talked about it- “oooh, aaah” I asked a student to return the plant to the teacher and say thanks. As her door opened, I noticed the teacher’s look of panic. We had caught her in the act of something.
The child handed her the plant, said thanks and turned to us, excitedly announcing, “It’s a mess in the Teddy Room!” That could only mean one thing. The leprechaun had arrived in our school! And although the teacher felt “caught” it never would have occurred to a four year old child that anyone but the leprechaun would do such a thing.
You see, every year in our school there is a tradition of our rooms getting messed up on St. Patrick’s Day. The children never see it happen, so surely it must be the leprechaun with his mischievious and magical powers. Well, when we heard the leprechaun had arrived, we got to work…
How could we keep him out of our room so it wouldn’t get messed up like the Teddy room just did? The children lined up blocks along the crack under the door between the two classrooms. Surely he would not be able to slip through. Then for the next 45 minutes there was speculation, theorizing, not to mention pure excitement.
How does he get in they wondered? Through that door? No- it can’t be because we have it blocked (literally with BLOCKS). Can he slip through the vents? Maybe; he is tiny after all. Maybe he’s invisible. Maybe he flies. Maybe he comes through the ceiling. Maybe he has a special key to unlock the window. “I watch bad guy movies,” said one, “I think the leprechaun uses a crowbar.”
Could we try to catch him? There were so many ideas of how to make a trap for a leprechaun… a box with a trap door, dig a giant hole in the sandbox so he could run by and fall in. The children came up with plan after plan.
Later, after we had been playing outside, we returned to find our own classroom a complete mess. There were backpacks everywhere. The bin of markers had been overturned. There were upside down chairs. There were even dolls hanging from the ceiling fan!
Somehow he had gotten in after all. Luckily for the kids, the leprechaun always leaves some gold coins amid the mess. So we forgave him for causing so much mischief.
But then again the discussions started. The ideas began to flow. Just how did those baby dolls get way up on the ceiling fan? There were theories galore… Maybe he can fly. Or he must have climbed from a chair to the table and then jumped really high. No, he couldn’t do that because he’s so small. “I know how he did it,” piped one child, “He zip-lined up there!”
The wonderment even carried overnight. The next day, one of the parents whispered to me that her son is convinced that I am the leprechaun because when he was playing in the sandbox he saw me go inside for a bit. “Wow, he’s observant,” I remarked. The mom replied, “No you don’t understand. He doesn’t think YOU messed up the room. He thinks you went inside and literally turned into the leprechaun.”
Okay, I’ll go with that- even though I have never zip-lined in my life.
I love the stories. Thanks for sharing and thanks for bringing wonderful learning opportunities to these little people. Who knows where this early learning will take them! You are an amazing teacher!