The Singing Nurse was part of this event and brought her songs for healthy living to the ESL (English as a Second Language) Family Night. The evening was hosted by the Pawling Central School District, and held at the Dover Elementary Cafeteria. The night was set aside to celebrate learning and family friendships. The principal of the Dover Elementary school as well as the ESL teachers organized the event. To kick off the evening, the grateful parents prepared and brought in delicious food to share with one another, yummy ethnic foods like, homemade tamales, salad, desserts and other Latin American dishes.

My take on the evening: Eating together and getting acquainted was a highlight for me as I observed firsthand the hard work and success of the P.C.S.D. ESL classes and its participants. The parents and children were friendly and enjoyed a little chit chat while using their English skills.

A family health workshop was my contribution to the event, and of course I used songs with hand motions as my arsenal of tools to share the information. We started out with a couple of familiar songs like The Hokey Pokey, to help break the ice. As we entered into the interactive lesson and asked questions, I was very impressed, especially by the knowledge the children possessed of the H1N1 influenza, and the schools preparation for the prevention of spreading germs.

We sang Rubba Dub Dub, a song from TSN CD, as we reviewed proper hand washing techniques and the best way to get rid of germs. We sang another TSN song, I’m Gonna Brush My Teeth, while reviewing tooth decay prevention. Pictures were also shown as we talked about Lice and how to prevent from getting them.

A few drawings were taken to receive free CDs and one teenage boy was one of the grateful winners.  One special moment of the evening was when I sprayed water from a spray bottle and explained that the vapors floating down were like our germs if we were to cough or sneeze in the air, so I explained that we needed to cough or sneeze into our shoulder. All the families enthusiastically took part in the last educational song, Don’t Spread Your Germs Around, which coincided with the lesson. One of the children donned a doctor’s lab coat and handed out tissues as the conga line passed by, with all singing, “don’t spread, don’t spread, don’t spread your germs around”. I was confident they were enjoying themselves as I observed many of the parents, teens and children grinning.

One of the young boys won the grand prize which wrapped up the evening, consisted of a basket filled with family health items, a nurse’s kit and one of The Singing Nurse CDs. He proudly posed for a picture to display the basket of gifts.

Tags: handwashing, health lessons
Categories: Children's Health Education, News, Updates, TSN outreach Projects, The Singing Nurse Music

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