Silence

Yesterday was the first day back at school. I was still feeling a bit unwell and had quite a sore throat but thought what kind of teacher abandons her class on the first day of school? So I soldiered on with a dose of codral. By midday I hardly had a voice and had to abandon story reading (I'd taken in my own fairy tale book -about 40 years old to share with the kids to encourage them to bring in their own favourite folk and fairy tales and start this terms theme. We played silent ball instead. This is a game in which a soft ball is tossed around the class anyone who speaks is out and if you drop the ball you are out. With older kids you can add bad throws to the list of thing that can get you out and add challenges like catch one handed or balance on one foot. Fortunately kids love it, I really don't know why but I thank the frazzled teacher who thought it up.
So this morning I woke after a rather uncomfortable night to find I still have no voice! I HATE having no voice. I love to talk, I need to talk....
I have found that Chicky Babe is far more adept at interpreting my mouthed words and frantic sign language/ charades than Bantam boy who insists on getting answers to questions like..
'How do insurance companies manage to make money when they offer free windscreen replacements?'
I gave up trying to answer this with charades and now have a handy little note book.
Oh I didn't go to school today, I had a mad moment when I felt like I was letting the kids down but then I thought that it would be crazy to try to teach a class of 27 year three's with no voice. I've been given the rest of the week off but I hope it doesn't take that long for my voice to return!