Tea Party Magic!

Sometime during September, I started talking about games that I had played as a little girl and the tea party topic arose. Many of them had never had a tea party before *especially the boys* and if they had, they had never used fancy china tea cups. So...I promised them that one day we would have a fancy tea party, complete with fancy tea cups. Now I try not to promise things that I can't get them. I put a request on the staff room message board asking for donations of fancy china tea cups. Low and behold didn't I get a whole bunch donated! I was so pleased and so were the kids.

In November, I usually do a theme about bears and Goldilocks in particular. It is a great way to introduce family vocabulary and house words in my French Immersion classroom. You have to remember that when the children come to me, they have almost NO words in French. It is rather like teaching babies to speak in some respects. I have to be very selective to give them the words that they need to communicate. Normally I have a teddy bear picnic as a cumulative activity. We bring our teddy bears in from home and talk about them extensively. We also measure them and write about them and basically spend the whole day with them. The kids take them outside and we even put them on a big parachute and bounce them in the air. This first picture is from a couple of years back...during the picnic. This picture is before kindergarten became full day. This is my half day class from 2 years ago...what a super group of kids.

circle time with our teddy bears *les nounours*

I decided to black out the kids' faces due to privacy issues. I can't possibly contact every parent and ask for consent. My face is not blacked out. For interest sake, my bear is called "Bunky" and I got him in second year university in Ottawa Ontario. He got me through many hard times!

So...back to the tea party. I announced to the children that we would have a teddy bear tea party as our final activity during the bear theme. Well, they were so excited. We talked about what we would wear to a fancy tea party and I sent notes home to the parents, explaining the activity. I also asked for baking donations for that day. The kids arrived on that morning just shaking with excitement. I had boys decked out in ties and vests and girls dressed as princesses with tiaras. I had to have just the perfect outfit. I appealed to my staff once again and my colleague Heather offered up her grandmother inlaw's hat. It was so perfect. We had just the perfect experience on that day. The children chatted and used manners and drank sweet tea *they liked adding the sugar*. They took their time and tried to converse in their minimal french. It was truly the perfect day. The lady serving the tea is a parent who volunteered to help out. I have had just the best parent support over my years in kindergarten. Here are the pictures!

Serving tea to an educational assistant. She played the part perfectly

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The teddy bears had their own mini tea set, brought in by a student!

My turn for tea...I felt like the queen!

enjoying a conversation!

 I carefully packed away all the teacups for the next party. Everyone I borrowed cups from donated them to the cause! If you are ever looking for something, don't hesitate to ask your staff! My staff is always a wealth of help and encouragement!

I look forward to this year's tea party. I am full of ideas about how to extend it. My play centers will be all about tea! I had better start collecting different types of tea and boxes and everything NOW. This party idea honestly came from my students and they helped me every step of the way. I hope that they will remember it always!