Will chose to present on the armadillo (each child had to choose a Texas symbol), and throughout the days leading up to his presentation he researched facts about and searched for pictures of armadillos online. Once he'd chosen his facts and pictures, we made a poster board for him to use during his presentation. (Will actually made the poster board himself, but I helped him figure out how to evenly space his bullet points and words. Anyone who knows me could look at Will's poster board and know that overall I had very little input - his asymmetrical picture placement nearly drove me crazy.)
Then Will practiced his presentation, many times, with Hallie and me acting like his classmates. Hallie paid close enough attention that she memorized nearly everything Will planned to say; on Sunday I heard her telling one of her stuffed animals, "Armadillo is a Spanish word. It means 'little armored one'".
All that practicing reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Cheerios commercials… As the little sister listens (while eating Cheerios in her highchair), the mom quizzes the older brother on state capitals. When the mom asks for the capital of Vermont and the older brother pauses, the little sister smiles and chimes in with "Montpelier".
Will gave his presentation last Monday and on that same afternoon I received an email from his teacher, letting me know that he'd done an excellent job presenting on and answering his classmates' questions about the armadillo. I was just happy to hear he'd made it through the presentation without picking his nose.
Here are a couple of videos from Will's first practice session. (Thankfully he improved as we continued to practice throughout the weekend.) As you can see in the first video, NOT picking your nose while giving a presentation is NOT common knowledge.
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