Sad Suzie

My husband went to a teaching conference and came away with a great idea to use puppets in the classroom when teaching reading strategies and correcting the students when they make a mistake with grammar or anything else. He asked if I would be interested in trying to make a puppet and I just went nuts. We spent a solid day looking for puppet supplies at the thrift store and craft stores, and after a few days of concentrated labor, Suzie was born. I call her Sad Suzie because she just looks so sad. I didn't mean to make her look sad, but hey - this is the first puppet I've ever made. The whole idea with her is that she is teased because she has purple skin and curly hair. I actually had a couple opportunities to use her in my kindergarten student teaching experience and the kids LOVED her. The first occasion happened when a little boy handed out birthday invitations in class, but he only invited SOME of the boys and SOME of the girls. Feelings were hurt, and Sad Suzie was called in for some mood lifting. I brought her out and the kids SCREAMED. Literally screamed. She told them that she was at the bus stop that morning and two friends were going to have a play date and she wasn't invited, even after she asked them. The kindergartners were very sad for Suzie, and offered many different solutions to her problem including find someone else to have a play date with, ignore them, or talk to your parents or teacher about your feelings. This conversation was accompanied by reading a book about feelings. Another time, I came to school with curly hair (when it's normally straightened) and the kids freaked. They told me my hair looked "really bad," "so weird," and "freaky." Soooo Suzie made an appearance. We read a book about teasing, and Suzie talked about how it hurts her feelings when she's teased about her hair. I told Suzie that I was teased about my hair and the kids went crazy again - "I DIDN'T TEASE YOU! I THINK YOU LOOK SOOOOO PRETTY!" hahahhahaha - hilarious. Suzie is awesome, and the kids think she is a real person. I'm very pleased with how she turned out, and I'm thinking about writing a couple of stories using her and taking photos to accompany the story. We'll see. Anyway... enjoy :)