If it wasn’t for a Beatles performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, Peterson Elementary School music teacher Paul Lovett may not have picked up a guitar as a second-grader in 1967. He also wouldn’t be teaching Beatles hits to second- through fifth-graders today.

“As a kid I remember mom saying, ‘are you going to watch the Beatles tonight on TV,’ and I thought it was insects,” Lovett said, smiling. “I watched it and I thought it was so neat and that’s what got me to start playing guitar and buying the records.”

The Beatles made such an impression because they “transcended music, history, fashion,” according to Lovett.

“You bet when kids leave Peterson in fifth grade they know a lot about the Beatles if they’ve been here a long time, and how cool is that,” he said, sitting in his Beatles-memorabilia-clad music room.

Today, the Beatles are another lesson in his music curriculum. First-graders learn “My Bonnie,” and second-graders learn “Yellow Submarine.” Third-graders learn three Beatles tunes: “Hey Jude,” “Let it Be” and “Act Naturally,” and fourth-graders learn “Here Comes the Sun,” “Nowhere Man” and “We can Work it Out.”

In the spring, the songs are included in “Peterson’s Greatest Hits” concerts, where each grade level gives a performance filled with oldies.

Last Tuesday, Lovett brought out his guitar and introduced “Help!” to fifth-graders. With a degree in American history, Lovett can’t help but infuse some history in music class.

“I really feel music is a foundation for learning. Music gets you to think and you become a better thinker. When you become a better thinker you become a better student in the classroom,” Lovett said. “Music is a brain exerciser.”

While the Beatles aren’t typical elementary music fare, Lovett isn’t going for “typical.”

“I want them walking down the hall coming to the room thinking, ‘what’s going to happen today in Mr. Lovett’s classroom,’” he said.

Lovett has been teaching music for 10 years. He also taught math and history for five years, but he didn’t go into teaching until his 40s after working in management.

“My advisor told me I’d maybe have a little problem finding a niche with a late start in elementary,” Lovett said, compounded by few men in the profession.

It was Peterson Principal Rick Anfenson who saw that Lovett had a knack for music, because he would always bring a guitar to help with keeping student’s attention as a substitute teacher.

“Luckily, I had a principal who could see what I was good at that I didn’t even think about,” Lovett said, later adding, “I just feel I bring something different to the classroom.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 758-4431 or [email protected].