Mother Goose (retired elementary teacher Pam Roller) tells the children stories and practices nursery rhymes with them on Friday morning at the Little Kings Preschool at Lewis Kings Preschool at Lewis Class High. Fran Ruchalski | Pharos-Tribune Fran Ruchalski
As the door opened, the students at Lewis Cass Preschool began to giggle and smile.
“Mother Goose! Mother Goose! Hi, Mother Goose!” the children squealed in delight.
A couple moments later, Mother Goose walked into the classroom, adorned with feathers, a bonnet and a bright-orange beak. And as she greeted the group of children, it became clear that Mother Goose enjoyed the visit just as much as the students and teachers.
The woman behind the feathers is Pam Roller, a retired Southeastern School Corp. teacher that taught second grade for 44 years before leaving last May. She has been coming to the preschool as Mother Goose every other Friday since the beginning of the semester.
And Roller said she believes Mother Goose is an answer to her prayers.
“I’m forever an educator, and I’m just rolling on to new adventures,” Roller said. “Mother Goose is one of them. I’ve been asking the Lord to lead me to ways to educate and fill the void of not having my own classroom anymore. Then one thing just led to another, and it began to unfold like a tablecloth.”
Roller reached out to preschool teacher, Cassie McLaughlin, about the possibility of bringing Mother Goose in to talk to the preschoolers, but she said she didn’t want to step on any toes.
“I just put it out there,” she said. “I said, ‘what do you think about having Mother Goose not just come in and wave but actually do a lesson with the kids?’ And they embraced the idea from the get-go.”
So Roller got to work, researching what literary skills 4 and 5 year olds needed and putting together little units of instruction based around popular nursery rhymes.
Along with a craft for the students to make, Roller incorporates a little snippet of video along with each nursery rhyme and also tries to end each lesson with a little moral, such as letting your light shine [Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star] or filling your pail with kindness [Jack and Jill].
“That’s the teacher in me,” she said smiling. “These preschoolers are our future, and every moment is a teachable moment.”
And as much joy as Mother Goose gives the students when she comes in, Roller said she gets that much fulfillment back in return.
“I believe that if you’re excited, they’re excited,” she said, “and everyone feeds off that. It’s like an epidemic. Their excitement drives me to keep coming back and doing more and more with them. And it just warms my heart that they [teachers] let me come in and share their kids with me.”
Roller — who also portrays Dr. Stem with the preschoolers — said she hopes the partnership will last long after this semester ends too.
“This has been such a privilege to be here,” Roller said. “Anytime that you have an opportunity to make something meaningful for children and allow them a variety of experiences and ways to make connections for lifelong learning, it’s a win-win.”
Roller continued.
“And I’m just saying I treasure each visit that I make and feel so blessed. It’s a privilege to have an opportunity, and I’m hoping they’ll say that they would like Mother Goose to come back again…and again and again and again,” she said smiling.
Reach Kim Dunlap at kim.dunlap@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5150.