I spy with my little eye...

...something that tickles the neck but not the ears.

and perhaps my favorite...little Dasha's

In my classroom I strive to create a safe atmosphere where the children and I can talk about all of our problems openly. This last Tuesday one of our vocabulary words was "soft". Somehow this started a conversation about hair and who had the longest. Artyom (second picture) pulled at one of his longer locks and said, "Mine is long down here!" I seized this opportunity to elevate their vocabulary even more. After all, the mullet is definitely the hot style here in Kyiv and depriving them of such mundane terms would just be wrong. So, I told the class to look at Artyom and note, "When there is short hair on top and long hair on the bottom it's called a mullet." They eagerly started repeating, "mullet! mullet!" We went on to spot who had one in our class and who didn't. Those that did bragged with beaming smiles, "I have a mullet!" One girl in braids, Maria, glumly looked down and said in the saddest little voice, "I don't have a mullet." I reassured her that the braids were as pretty as a princess and she was happy enough at that. Today I quizzed them to see who could remember the word and it was music to my ears when they started chanting, "mullet! mullet!" Ahhh...now that is fine education. Actually, since our first priority is to have engaging conversations it was perfect. My only fear is that I hear Europe is a few years ahead of us in fashion. If that means the mullet is about to come back, I really might cry.