Today is sponsored by the letter ‘G’

Marisa O’Neil

Walking into a kindergarten classroom can make a grown-up feel like

Gulliver in Lilliput.

The tables, the chairs, even the toilets seem impossibly tiny. But

to kindergarteners, such as those in Kerri Bordelon’s class at

California Elementary in Costa Mesa, they’re just right.

And where else do you get to sing and dance in class?

“Let’s stand up and do the hot potato,” Bordelon urged her class,

putting on a CD of “Hot Potato” by toddler idols the Wiggles.

“Hot potato! Hot potato!” 5-year-old Natalie Bishay exclaimed,

jumping up and down.

As the upbeat tune played, Bordelon led the class in a sing-along,

the children wiggling their hips and clapping their hands to the

music. Even 20-month-old Vanessa Royal, visiting the class while mom

Janice helped out, got into the act, shimmying alongside her big

sister Tori.

After that warm-up, a group of students headed to the front of the

class for show-and-tell. All their items started with the letter “g,”

which they’ve been studying.

“Boys and girls, I have something to share,” 4-year-old Michelle

Benham said, holding up a pair of green swim goggles. “It’s goggles

for swimming.”

An empty-handed Kyra Page, 5, went next.

“Boys and girls, I have something to share,” she announced.

“Myself, because I’m a girl.”

“Ohhh,” the class sighed in recognition. They knew they should

have seen that one coming.

“I didn’t think of that,” Bordelon admitted. “Matthew, what do you

have?”

“Boys and girls, I have something to share,” 4-year-old Matthew

Meade said as he held aloft a pewter-colored chalice. “A goh-blay.”

“‘Goh-blay.’ I like the way you said that,” Bordelon said. “Is

that French?”

Matthew nodded.

“What is it in English? Is it a ‘goblet’?” Bordelon said.

Matthew nodded again.

Next, the students grabbed their pencil boxes and folders marked

with their names and split into groups. One group sat down with a

book called “The Goofy Goat.”

Another used bone-shaped candy to graph numbers. A third worked on

learning to spell the words for different colors.

And some children, such as 5-year old Tori, worked on their own.

Well, almost on their own.

“Penna peepo,” little Vanessa implored her mother. “Penna peepo.”

Well-versed in Vanessa-speak, Janice Royal got her youngest

daughter a pen and paper. The toddler took them and sat down next to

her big sister while she worked.

“Penna peepo,” whispered Vanessa, the only person even smaller

than the little chairs.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Marisa O’Neil visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about her experience.