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I come in costume as Mother Goose, with large, sweet Goose puppet (Tillie), a ukulele and recorder and puppets to mix with the rhymes (e.g., Jack & Jill puppets, Cow for "Hey, Diddle Diddle" quacks and barks till she goes over the MOOn, a cute little pig puppet for "This Little Piggy," which makes an "oink" sound as part of the rhythm--funny!) Puppets for Humpty Dumpty, black sheep and Mary's Lamb, (adorable cone puppet from Prague, Czech Republic visit) some finger puppets, too. Lots of humor, variety and the soul of great old nursery rhymes with rhythm, song, and dance--kids participating all the time, in different ways. Very gentle, kind and playful with kids. Children echo, repeat rhymes, sing, dance, move, use hand-play and interact with each other and the puppets. They are busy and happy! Fantastic literacy play!

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Armless chair and a nearby surface on which to rest my puppets and ukulele, please. Usually, kids sit on classroom rug.

I can listen to and participate in traditional nursery rhymes, with rhythm and expression. I can practice spoken language in increasingly longer, complex sentences. I can take part in and echo traditional folk language, using diction and good grammar. I can experience a literary character as a performance (Mother Goose). I can take in and help make a puppet show.

I come dressed as Mother Goose, with beautiful goose puppet, songs, rhymes, ukulele, bag of small lap/hand puppets such as Jack and Jill, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Mary's Little Lamb, Humpty Dumpty and more. I lead/teach the rhymes in a gentle, kind and playful way, with lots of humor. (Cow puppet won't say "Moo," but quacks and barks instead until she says her "Hey Diddle...cow jumped over the MOOn" rhyme.) Kids help tell the nursery rhymes, dance to songs with ukulele. For Old King Cole, I play recorder (500 year-old song). Mother Goose brings the classic nursery rhymes to life. Kids all echo, speak along, sing, dance, use hand plays along with practicing rhymes out loud. The difference across grade levels is in how she speaks with each, respecting their different developmental levels. That being said, this is a living literary character that is very multi-leveled in this presentation: teachers have said they felt moved by the acting ability and importance given these old rhymes. The beauty of language is very much part of this. All ages can enjoy. Fantastic early literacy!!

The best thing for others to do is to sit with the kids and Mother Goose and take part in the rhymes and activities, to model how to do them for the children. Adults modeling attentive listening find the children connect most effectively to the material. The more, the merrier. Sometimes I ask an adult to operate one of the little puppets and bring it to the kids for a hello, a little pat--to get closer to the kids, and to engage the teachers/paras/adults.