It's spring and so the wedding season is just around the corner! For many years, the wedding of Q and U was the highlight of the year for my kindergartners and me.
Q and U belong together, as everyone knows. After all, it's an important spelling rule:
Whenever you write a Q,
you must write a U.
Now, the idea of having a wedding to help children learn this spelling rule is not original to me. I'm not sure who dreamed up this marvelous idea although I have heard of an old kindergarten reading readiness curriculum called The Letter People which may lay claim to it. I overheard some other teachers talking about a Q and U wedding at a kindergarten conference I attended. Like many of my favorite lessons, the idea isn't original to me but I developed it in my own way.
I started my planning by listing all of the participants in a typical wedding ceremony (see above.) Obviously, some years I had to create a larger bridal party with more bridesmaids and groomsmen. The important thing was that every student had a role in the wedding. Also, I decided which student would take each role. I knew some students would be more comfortable as musicians or photographers than as bride and groom, others would be able to practice reading a few lines as officiator(s), some would need to move about and they would make perfect ushers, etc.
 |
| I know the old-fashioned computer looks out of place next to this child who is the "musician" in charge of playing the music at the wedding. |
 |
| The photographer had a real camera to take pictures of the wedding. |
 |
| This little girl was so proud to usher guests into the classroom for the wedding. |
Next, I introduced the idea of weddings to the children through reading books, sharing my own wedding album and inviting children to bring in photos of weddings where they had been flower girls or ring bearers, and discussions. Here are two of my favorite wedding books for kids:
I explained that we were going to have a very special play where we would be acting out a wedding. I was going to be the director of the play and so I would be choosing which role each student would be enacting. Since we did a lot of dramatic play in my classroom, my students understood this was how it was going to be. Period.
Of course, we took time to understand and practice the spelling rule about Q and U. Each year, we made a quilt (qu- word) of some type ( paper, or fabric swatches sewn together by volunteers.) The quilt was always the wedding present opened by the two bears, Q and U, with the help of their human counterparts.
Some years, the wedding of Q and U was a Really Big Deal with children dressed up as if it were a real wedding.
In those years, we also invited parents to attend the wedding of Q and U. We had parents who made beautiful cakes that were every bit wedding cakes!
But other years, we would just have a rehearsal one day and then try to enact the whole ceremony without a glitch the next day. We wouldn't have adult guests; instead, some of the students played the roles of wedding guests. And those Weddings of Q and U were also a lot of fun and memorable. No matter how elaborate the wedding, we always ending with dancing:
The Wedding of Q and U was always hugely popular at my school and it received some very nice publicity over the years.
Many parents loved that I had taken the time to teach the children about weddings. One parent made a lovely photo album of the wedding which I will always treasure:
At my big retirement party in May 2018, many, many students asked the whereabouts of Q-bear and U-bear. A lot of my other kindergarten memorabilia was on display at the party venue. But, unfortunately, Q and U had become someone else's playmates:
I hope you will try having a wedding of Q and U in your classrooms! Also, please read my next (and final) post!
