Alphabet fun

Suzie Harrison

Though they aren’t quite at the level of grasping mathematical

equations, Lisa Williams’ kindergarten class at El Morro Elementary

School is down the home stretch of the alphabet to the letter “W.”

The highlight of Friday’s class was a demonstration by school

principal Joanne Culverhouse, who rode her unicycle through a crowd

of eager observers.

“What letter did you learn last week? That’s right ‘U,’”

Culverhouse said. “Well this is a unicycle that I am about to ride.

And what does a unicycle have?”

The children responded in unison that it has one wheel.

Before riding, she demonstrated that the wheel could move forward

and backward and that it does not have a brake. She talked to the

students about how important it is to always use a helmet and that

safety comes first.

Student Kelsey Paul, 6, asked why Culverhouse rode a unicycle.

“Because in fourth grade I saw it on TV and thought it would be

fun,” Culverhouse said. “I rode it to school everyday.”

Shrieks of excitement echoed as Culverhouse made her trek in

circles.

Back in class the students sang a song, following Williams’

pointer on a chart that was about wheels, what has wheels and that

wheels go around in a circle.

“Did Dr. Culverhouse’s wheels go round and round?” Williams asked.

A resounding, “yes,” filled the room.

“I want to see you raise your hand if you can say a word that

begins with a “W,” Williams said.

A sea of hands immediately reached as high as they could and each

student got an opportunity to say at least one. The words whale,

waterfall, woman, wet, wand, weather and wrestling were among the

batch.

“You all came up with some really good words,” Williams said.

She told the class that they were going to work on a book about

whales and another “W” related project was to make a weather wheel.