Mike Boucher recently presented a program to his son's kindergarten
class. He sent along this narrative and an couple of photos of the
event. You're a good dad Mike!
Hi folks,
On Tuesday, Dec 22nd, my son's school had Santa Claus come in to read “The
Polar Express” to both kindergarten classes. James' teacher asked if I
would be willing to talk to the class about trains, as James is very much into
trains, and my wife has told here that its genetic. I agreed. I
figured that in order to get the attention of a bunch of kindergarteners, I
needed something impressive to catch their attention, that wasn’t so fragile
that I was worried about it getting damaged. So I brought my 3.5”
gauge Boston and Maine pacific in as a prop. Needless to say, that got
their attention! (and the teachers were pretty amazed as well)
James wouldn’t sit down with the rest of his class; he had to be part of the
demonstration as well. So, for about an hour, he and I talked about
steam engines, the jobs of the conductor, engineer, and fireman, freight cars,
“Thomas the tank engine” and the prototypes of many of the characters, the
difference between freight and passenger engines, and took a bunch of
questions.
When it was all done, we got some plastic baggies and gave each of the kids 4
or 5 small pieces of coal for their stockings! (I’m sure the parents
LOVED that! ;))
It was a lot of fun, and its amazingly intimidating standing in front of 40
kindergarten kids!
I’ll have to find someplace to post a few photos, as my wife was there with
a camera… (BTW all the kids were wearing pajamas, as that’s what
the
“Polar Express” passengers were all wearing)
Mike
----
Mike Boucher
Lunenburg, MA 01462
Mike shows the kids how coal is loaded into the firebox
James is holding an HO scale gondola car, and you can see an HO boxcar and
hopper car on the running board of the pacific. This was when I was
telling the kids about the different types of cars they might see in a freight
train.
James explaining something about trains to his dad.
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Mike shows the kids how coal is loaded into the firebox
James is holding an HO scale gondola car, and you can see an HO boxcar and
hopper car on the running board of the pacific. This was when I was
telling the kids about the different types of cars they might see in a freight
train. 
James explaining something about trains to his dad.