Cross-pollinating roles: skill sharing in early years settings

I recall some years ago arriving early at the nursery school where I was to teach music. I sat quietly as they went about their business, children dotted around in clusters, doing their thing. After a while I become aware of a sort of internal musical rhythm going on all around me. A teaching assistant sat at a table guiding a child to try Space ‘n Shapes (putting correct shaped blocks into the puzzle). Nearby, a child hummed ‘ahheeeeoooo’, swooping his arm up and down as he took off his coat, then placed it carefully on a hook. Another giggled in merry tandem with her friend as together they twisted their hands from side to side. A child stood still and watched me. Then she skipped off, humming as she went. All this, as one of the staff called across the room in a singsong voice: ‘All in a row! All in a row! Everyone together, all in a row!’