That’s Silly! Learning and Laughing

If you ask me, I wouldn’t say I am a particularly funny person.  At least not as an adult, but people do tell me that they can recognize when I’m near because of my laugh.  So, I guess I like to laugh, and I’m always try to find the fun in any situation.  That’s not hard to do when you teach young children.  They can make you smile in a minute, maybe less.  As a child, I loved to laugh, but I also loved to perform.  I would go behind the drapery in our living room and my mother would announce my “Funny Acts.”  I’d emerge from the “stage curtains” dancing, twirling around, singing silly things off the top of my head while everyone in my family clapped.  I loved making people laugh. Then I grew up and got self-conscious.

 It took me some years to shed the self-consciousness.  Teaching nursery school cured me of seriousness. Kids have a natural affinity for silliness, and I love to get silly with them.  We would sing songs with and march around the classroom chanting, “All around the Kitchen Cock-a-doodle-doodle do!”  and  “I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!  I like to oot, oot, oot oo-ples and ba-noo-noos!”  Songs like these were not only silly, they  encouraged kids’ imagination, language, and building a strong community.

Sometimes, I got carried away like the time my whole 2^nd grade class re-enacted Miss Nelson is Missing, and I played the part of one of the children, who was sitting upside down in a chair shouting and kicking my legs.  That would have been funny in and of itself, but at the exact moment I was acting, my principal walked in wondering what all the noise was about.  As I untangled myself from my chair, one of my students, who was playing Miss Nelson explained that we were acting out a story.  My principal smiled and closed the door behind her.  I was fortunate that she understood the importance of laughter and plain old silliness.

When I was teaching 5^th grade, I noticed that everyone of the novels my colleagues and I were teaching were very serious dealing with heavy topics.  One day, when I was introducing a new book, a student interrupted me and asked, “We just want to know, which character dies?” he said. I looked around the room, and all the children were nodding their heads.  I was shocked, and I realized the kids were right.  All the novels we had read so far that year had at least one character who died.  I put down the book I was about to introduce and asked the kids to each write a list of humorous or mystery or science fiction books that they have enjoyed.  Then I quickly ordered books from the kids’ lists.  I realized that teacher chosen serious books are fine and important for class discussions, but student-chosen books that bring joy and laughter are often more engaging and motivating. 

Last spring, I submitted a poem for possible publication in Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong’s  new anthology, Clara’s Kooky Compendium of Thimble Thoughts and Wonder Fuzz.  Janet and Sylvia have been wonderful supportive of my poetry and my creative process.  I can’t thank them enough for encouraging me to get silly again.  I usually write poetry about nature, memories, reflections on experiences, and other adult topics.  So, when I sat down to be silly, I was stumped at first.  “I can’t do silly,”  I thought.  Then I thought back to my nursery school days and started to recall all those silly songs.  I fell asleep that night, and when I awoke I had this new poem in my head about a funky monkey. “Where did that come from?”  I thought as I frantically wrote it down.  I did not want to forget it.  I sent the first draft to Janet, and she suggested that I create a silly song within the poem.  I went back to the drawing board and started chanting the poem, and then silly nonsense words came tumbling out of my mouth.  I sent the second draft to Janet, and she loved it and accepted it for publication. Clara’s Kooky Compendium of Thimble Thoughts and Wonder Fuzz was published this month.  It is filled with thought-provoking ideas, funny wonderings, and silly poems on topics ranging from tarantulas to chickens, bubble baths to cicadas, elephants to aliens.  The last few pages have suggested activities for children to write and imagine on their own.

This work of teaching and learning is hard and joyful all at the same time.  A regular dose of laughter goes a long way for teachers and students alike. Below are some reading suggestions. I hope you check them out and share them with children you know. 

LAUGH OUT LOUD BOOKS

Picture Books

• Accident! By Andrea Tsurumi
• Here Comes Teacher Cat by Deborah Underwood
• Lion Lessons by Jon Agee
• Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
• 17 Things I’m not Allowed to do Anymore by Jenny Offill
• Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• The Book with No Pictures by BJ Novak
• The Trouble with Children (According to Dog) by Katie Weaver
• We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen

Chapter Books

• Alvin Ho by Lenore Look
• Buckle and Squash: The Perilous Princess Plot by Sarah Courtauld
• Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon
• 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel + 1 Dog = Chaos by Vivian Velde
• Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face and the Badness of Badgers by John Dougherty
• The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey
• The Chicken Squad by Doreen Cronin
• The Giggler Treatment by Roddy Doyle
• The Great Pet Escape by Victoria Jamieson

Poetry Books

• A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play by Marilyn Singer
• Body Music: Poems about Noises Your Body Makes by Jane Yolen and Ryan G. Van Cleave
•  Clara’s Kooky Compendium of Thimble Thoughts and Wonder Fuzz by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong
•  Dancing Ants & Other Silly Poems for Kids by Lizzie B. Lynn
• Laugh-eteria by Douglas Florian
• Ready for Spaghetti: Funny Poems for Funny Kids by Michael Rosen
• Tongue Doodles: A Collection of Humorous Poetry by E.S. Bochner
• Whale of a Time: Funny Poems for Each Day of the Year by Lou PeacockZilot & Other Important Rhymes by Bob Odenkirk