I hate show and tell.
I hate it with a passion.
Sure, as a teacher, I know it is important for children to practice standing up in front of a group and speaking clearly and intelligently about a subject. I know that it is important for children to practice listening to their peers. I know that show and tell is a good way to practice these skills, but I still hate it.
I hate it because I have two kids in the same class, who have show and tell the day after each other. That means we have to come up with twice as many things and there is always arguments and tears over who gets to show this or tell that first.
I hate it because more often than not it is 8:30am, we are throwing everyone in the car in a wild attempt to make it to school on time and then, only then, does someone suddenly remember they have nothing for show and tell!
I hate it because, despite my best efforts, I am totally out of interesting show and tell suggestions. That means that the girls are reduced to taking toys, making ‘Show and Tell more like ‘Bring and Brag’.
And I really hate it because I have somehow been tricked into agreeing to take the guinea pigs for show and tell next week. So think of me next Wednesday morning when I am attempting to get four children and three guinea pigs fed and dress and in the car and to school before the bell goes!
I’m playing along with Yay For Home’s Things I Know link up… and I know this is stretching the Things I Know concept a little…. but I’m running out of things I know, and I’m sure Shae won’t mind, hopefully!
{image: For all those uninitiated in the ways of beginner chapter books, the photo above is of Tashi, flying on his carpet, made by Zoe, and taken for Bring and… er… I mean Show and Tell.}
I feel your pain… I too hate it, but thankfully Hannah’s teacher doesn’t have a weekly schedule. The kids are encouraged to share when they have something to show and tell, so it is less “bring and brag”. When she had it last year, I never let her take toys just to show them because I hate the bring and brag idea, but it made it even harder… and I only have 1 kid, I can’t imagine trying to sort out 2 kids in the same class.
You have me laughing, I’m imagining you feeding and dressing four kids and three guinea pigs. What will they wear? : )
Yes. Good luck with those guinea pigs! As a teacher I had a theme each week for show and tell which I hoped made it easier for children and parents to thinking something to bring. Eg fav book, a yummy recipe, a baby photo etc. However I also found show and tell excruciatingly boring at times and started kids doing it in small groups so they just shared with each other and I didn’t have to listen to them all!!!
Yes! this is the way my daughter’s class does it. It works really well, and is so much easier on everyone. Maybe you could suggest it, or I could email you my daughter’s list if you’d like to just use it for your kids.
Good luck with the guinea pigs!
FYI pictures don’t show up on your mobile site.
Last year my daughter’s teacher came up with the idea of show & tell themes, all the kids put in ideas & she drew up a list & they had to bring something or talk about something on the list. It was heaps better & she had to think about what to say & what she was taking & be organised beforehand. The kids were in a “this is my (insert brand name toy here) and I like it” rut, the list really helped.
Fully agree! It’s taken me til the week of letter “y” … (damn, no yogurt, can’t find yo-yo, what is yes as an object? ) to finally google “ideas for show and tell”!!
I think at Kinder we only get Show & Tell once a term, but we haven’t done it this term. I like it because our teacher has show and tell boxes, which are themed, and the child has to pick something that goes with it, tell people how it does and why they chose it. Then the other kids have to think of questions to ask.
Will have to look into the Tashi books once we have finished reading the Go Girl books. And the Rainbow Magic books. My throat is drying up at the thought :s
I teach preschool and don’t do show and tell in my classroom. What we do instead is allow friends who bring something that starts with the letter we’re learning about, something seasonal, or something from nature. By doing it this way, we haven’t been inundated with needing to take large chunks of time where the speaker is sharing, but the audience are getting “ants in their pants” from all the waiting.
If my kids are in the car and ‘remember’ they have show and tell then I remind them of the option to “tell” only. Then you can hear me rambling on “if you can’t think of something interesting you’ve done, seen, heard…..blah blah blah…….then obviously you have too many things and not enough time to sit back and smell the roses….blah blah blah”
It would be easier if they gave you a theme for show and tell each week.
Oh gosh, I’m going to be useless at this when the time comes!
Oh… the show and tell horror.
Luckily at our school they have given the kids the topics that they have to talk about each week – which is usually linked to their overall topic of the term.
Any kids are allowed to have “free speak” news if there is something different that they want to talk about – but it is not prepared, rather spontaneous and only if you want to.
It takes a lot of pressure off as a mum!
Good luck for your guinea pig morning. I think you are incredibly brave!
I hate show and tell (or News as we call it) too and I only have my first child in pre-primary! With two more young ones I have year of it to get through yet!
I am smiling in sympathy with all the comments of UN-liking sharing times and the aggravation it brings to families.
I am a 4s/5s early childhood teacher in the States. Two things I have done to tackle the ‘sharing’ issues yet still have the concept of ‘sharing’ alive in the classroom:
1. In my summer letter to my new class for fall, I ask the child w/ their guardians to create a “summer-to-school box” that will be their sharing box over the first couple months of school (seriously! I stretch it out over two months!). Usual items are suggested: family photos, ticket stubs of places they went, small book or toy, adventure maps, their own drawing/artwork, something from a camp they went to, etc.
We share in small groups of 6-8 students, once a week, one item, usually not even starting to use the boxes til two weeks after school is underway. When we are done, the children transform their boxes into “summer houses” by making 3D structures with all the items and we display them at a late-fall class community event.
2. After holidays, I create weekly “jobs” for caring for our classroom with partners of children sharing each job (weather report, line leader, etc.). If you have “sharing” , you and your partner have all week to remember – or not – to bring something to share! They can bring something everyday, do a “tell share”, whatever. This way, the time is spread out over a week and the listening to sharing is also minimized :)
Anyway, I wanted to offer a couple ways to relieve the stress of sharing that have worked well for me, the children and the families. Apologies for SHARING so much about SHARING! :)
I teach Pre-Primary and cringe about news. I actively discourage bringing “stuff” and prefer the kids to talk about a topic which they get given a few days before. My daughter is 10 and still wants me to bring the rabbit and the very anti-social cat for news! Maybe we could form a support group and fund research into why news does not help children’s oral language development! Thousands of parents and teachers would thank us:)
Goodness, I am so not looking forward to the Show and Tell stage in our lives…. thanks for this warning!
Good luck with getting those guinea pigs dressed and fed! ;)
I absolutely agree. I always maintained that show and tell was homework for the parents.
I just wanted to say that I specifically came back on the computer (rather than phone) so I could see the Tashi picture… and I think it is awesome! Good job Zoe!!!
Josh loves Tashi too :)