Rebecca
"Okay, everyone, what sound does a cow make?" I ask with exaggerated enthusiasm, holding up a picture card.
"Mooooo!" the kids chorus, some of them giggling, a few dragging it out like a dramatic opera.
I grin and flash the next card. "And what about a duck?"
"Quack! Quack! Quack!" shouts Tyler from the front row, flapping his arms like wings.
"Very good, my little ducklings," I say, suppressing a laugh. "Now, who wants to come up and match the animal to the sound?"
A sea of tiny hands shoots into the air, some kids hopping in place, desperate to be picked. I call on Lucy, who marches up proudly and sticks the duck card onto the sound chart with all the seriousness of a surgeon.
"Perfect match," I say, giving her a high-five. "You're all doing amazing today. After we finish our chart, we can go outside for story time under the big tree. Sound good?"
