I'm teaching Gymnastics again!

FEBRUARY 19, 2009

I just started teaching gymastics again in January this year to 3, 4 and 5 year old girls. I work for Amy Mow at Down Town Dance and I do have to say that for anyone who would like to teach for someone, Amy is the best there is. Seriously, I am not even trying to suck up to my boss :) it's really just the truth. I have never worked for someone that is so positive, organized and fair. She actually is more than fair, if there is such a thing. So, "KUDOS" to Amy. I would recommend her dance studio to any little girl that wants to follow her dream in becoming a dancer and to every little girl who just wants a positive experience and a LOT of fun!

With that said, I am completely surprised at how much fun I have been having. I can't believe that I had forgotten how much I love teaching. Very quickly I start to think of these little girls as my own. I love them all in a different way. Some of them are the charachters in class that keep me on my toes and keep me constantly having to think up new ideas to keep their attention. Others are those that try to do absolutely everything exactly the way they are suppose to and if I don't notice how good they are doing, we will occasionally have a meltdown. Then there are those who come running up to me and give me a hug and are so excited to see me. Boy if that doesn't make your day, I don't know what would!

One of my favorite parts of class is at the very beginning when we are taking role and waiting for everyone to get there. I LOVE hearing all of the little girls stories. The things they are so excited to tell me are always so cute! One day one of the little girls said that they saw me with my new baby on the computer. I was thinking to myself, "Ok, where would I have been on the computer when I had my baby with me that this little girl would have seen me???" It took a while to click that she meant she actually saw me ON the computer (screen) with my baby. Her mom must have let her see my blogspot. I don't remember now which girl said this to me, but whoever it was, this blog goes out to her mom. Thank you for looking at my blogspot and also for letting your daughter see it. How sweet! By the way, you can copy any pictures that you would like.

This is a my one o'clock class. My assistant is Kristi Fisher. I actually taught her dance when she was about 12, I think. She is SO amazing too! I love working with her. I wanted her in the picture so I set the camera up on a self timer with a ten second delay. I was actually surprised how well the picture turned out. All the little girls look SO cute!! (I am not going to mention any of the girls names for privacy reasons, unless of course their parents tell me it's ok!) But really truly... how cute are they??

This day, I just HAD to take a picture. The girls have been working on getting their bridges since the first day I started teaching, and TODAY every single one of them got it. YAY!! I was so excited! Some of them in the picture have their head on the floor, but only because I made them hold it there for so long before I took the picture. But they really can do it, believe me!!

This is my noon class. A few of the girls were missing from each class, which always makes me sad, but especially because I didn't get a picture of them. Again, this is a picture I made a mad dash to get into, because of the self timer, but I was happy with how it turned out!

Here all of the girls were practicing their handstands against the wall. They love to have a race there and see who can get up first. I wish now that I would have had all of them look at the camera while they were doing it. I think it looks cute. Maybe towards the end of the year I can get another picture of them.

When I used to teach all of my students would call me Miss Lorraine, but it seemed that so many of the little ones had a difficult time saying it. I often heard, "Miss WaWayne" or "Miss LaWayne" being called out from across the room. As a child my nick name was Rainy and I always loved it. In fact, I love when my mother or sister still call me that sometimes. It never seemed to stick though with my friends growing up. Around Junior High age, my friends all started calling me Lo. Which was ok, I just liked Rainy better.

So, I thought it would be fun to hear my childhood nick name again and it also is much easier for the girls to say. So now, I am known as "Miss Rainy" in class. I love hearing, "Miss Rainy, Miss Rainy, watch what I can do!" or "Miss Rainy, guess what I did this week?" and etc. These girls are so adorable. I am starting to remember why I had such a hard time selling my studio when I did. The hardest thing for me, was to leave my girls.

I want to thank Amy for giving me this opportunity to teach again and for Kristi for being so wonderful to work with. I especially want to thank all of the mother's who trust me teaching their girls AND for the girls who love to come!!! See you in class kiddos!