1.24.24

We had some unexpected fun in my classroom this morning.

I hung up a new set of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) posters before school started, and the kiddos were fascinated by them. Especially the poster of the Periodic Table of SEL Elements. It lays out SEL skills in a format that mimics the traditional periodic table of elements.

We were discussing the posters, and one student who has a deep interest in pretty much anything ever mentioned how much he enjoys the Periodic Table Song by AsapSCIENCE, which he listens to at least once a day.

“What’s that?” the other students wanted to know.

So I pushed my plans aside for a few minutes and we watched the video. The overwhelming excitement the kiddos had while watching it compelled me to dive into a bit of nerd rock, and I played the title track from They Might Be Giants’ 1993 EP, Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas).

I remember when that EP showed up at my college radio station. It was played quite often on a show I did with a college friend, and it and TMBG stayed with me over the past 30-ish years.

In 2013, I took my youngest son to his first concert, which was TMBG on their Nanobots tour. Not only did he get to see an incredible first live show, but he also got to see his dad completely lose his mind when the band played Why Does the Sun Shine?

Back to my classroom this morning …

The kids loved the song and video, and I wanted to keep the fun going. So I went to a couple of animated musical classics, the states and capitals song as performed by The Animaniacs, and the countries of the world song, also performed by The Animaniacs.

Again, the kiddos ate it all up. It was so fun to watch them consume this wonderful stuff and discover a new layer of how learning can be fun.

The rest of the day was a pretty typical school day, filled with success, struggle, and unexpected challenges. But that 15 minutes or so early on — stepping back from plans and leaning into just reading the room and encouraging the vibe — that’s some of the best time I’ve had this year with my 3rd graders.

Without the sun, without a doubt

There’d be no you and me