(04/19/10) Cathedral Elementary School (Superior, WI)

4/19/10 Outreach Visit Early Childhood Program at Cathedral Elementary School in Superior, WI

Cathedral school has great marble floors that echoed loudly with each step of Magic’s tiny hooves. Squeals of delight also echoed off the hall walls and in the classrooms as Magic stopped by and investigated each doorway and popped her head into each classroom. In one classroom Magic actually stepped in. There was a group of 3 year olds sitting on the floor. She did her usual antics of sniffing all around, putting her head on a desk, and going straight to the garbage can. She did find a box with plastic letters of the alphabet under a desk in that room and stood by it for a long time searching for the correct letters of her name.

The teachers from Cathedral heard about us from one of their teacher’s aides who saw us at the Mariner Mall a few weeks back.

All 3 classes of 4 and 5 year olds were well behaved so our original fears which surfaced when teachers told us as we first came in, that all the kids were going crazy in the school waiting to pet a horse.

As I was doing my presentation older students kept stopping by to get milk for snacks. They watched a bit. When Magic was in the room, their jaws dropped.

One young boy when I asked what WindChill needed when he was thirsty replied, “Milk.” Another boy then said, “Juice.”

Most of the children who had pets that died, talked about their pets being in Heaven.

It was a sneezy room. Kids sneezed. Magic sneezed. Magic seemed to sneeze by the air vent.

2 boys were worried that Magic was going to step on their feet and how it would feel. They were comparing how it would feel to other injuries they had in the past.

One young man was scared of Magic and refused to pet her the first time. Then the 2^nd time he petted her and the last time he gave her a big hug telling her he was scared but, “I now love horses.”

When Kathi showed off Magic’s teeth, as usual she was asked why she did not brush Magic’s teeth. Kathi had a good reply this time. She said,” They do not make carrot toothpaste.” She told the kids that she has been trying to get it made but no one will do it.

As usual you can always spot the kids who do not brush their teeth. They are horrified. They grimace and they look worried. They also usually say, “I will start brushing.”

As one girl left, she said good-bye to Magic, blew her a kiss and said, “Good-bye and don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

After this outreach Kathi, Magic, Trish, Carole, and I all went to one of Gramma Carole’s and my favorite places, Dan’s Feed Bin. We bought Miste’s grain and loaded it into the truck. Magic came into the store too. She was very good UNTIL she spotted sunflower seeds on the floor. She scooped those up. AND she was really good UNTIL Kathi turned her back and started talking to someone behind the counter. Magic lifted a whole bag of dog treats out of the barrel and started walking out with the bag in her mouth. She just wanted a little snack on the way home but Kathi made Magic put it back.