Never Tie a Shoe Again

I'll never, ever tie another shoe again!

Why should I?  I figured out the holy grail of kindergarten sneakers!

This year, not a single kid could tie a shoe.  NOT ONE!

You know what that means: I knew I'd be squatting all day, knotting a spaghetti tangle of shoe laces.

Did I panic?  Yes, briefly.  Then I recovered--and realized what I had to do.

Instead of teaching my kids about the science center, I spent 10 minutes teaching shoe tie center.

Hey!  It's a song!  (But shhhh; it's for my ears only: "Shoe tie, don't bother me, shoe tie, don't bother me...cuz I belong to somebody!")

I opened the Shoe Tie Tutorial on my SMARTboard, and followed the "Easy Tie" Steps.  I used the kid's sneaker I keep in my learning center, and I showed each step in real-time.   And...I had my kids act out the steps in mid-air:

1)  Pull the laces out
2)  Cross them over
3)  Put one lace into the hole
4)  Pull the laces tight

etc., etc...

I went through the steps twice, then I set up my Shoe Tie Center (with a printout of the shoe tie tutorial in a binder), and watched the magic happen.

Day One, one girl learned how to tie shoes.  She signed my Shoe Tie Club poster, and she won an award and a little prize.

Day Two, she taught 4 other kids, using the binder pictures...

Once my kids master the easy shoe tie, they move on to the advanced shoe tie.  That's the one where they have to loop around a loop.  It's a piece of cake--not!  (no pun intended!)

The doctorate level involves making a double knot--which every teacher knows is a MUST to get through a whole day.

Now I'm singing a new song--seriously, I can't get it out of my head.  It's sung to the tune of George Michael's "Careless Whisper."

"I'll never tie a shoe again

Guilty feet have got some rhythm..."

And, I'm doing a happy dance!!!