I went to kindergarten yesterday and I learned some important lessons. Teachers have the hardest jobs next to mothers. There are so many needs and so little time. During reading time Cameron pointed out to me that a Caldecott medal book is really cool. "No, David", was what he chose to read and the book followed David from one bad situation to another until the last page where the mother in the story called "Hey, Davey", and Cameron, my reader, smiled at me and said, "She's going to hug him".
"I don't get this", another boy announced to me. He read a book that started with a clean classroom all neat and tidy. The words on the top of the page were, "A perfect classroom." Then he showed me the last page where all the tables were littered with art supplies, the chairs askew, and nothing put away. The words on that page were also, "A perfect classroom". How could these two different pictures have the same words? I tried to introduce the idea that the messy classroom showed evidence of fun activity which indicated the children had a good time. He turned to his table mate and ignored my suggestion and proceeded to make his case again. Sometimes we have to look at things upside down.
During Writing Time everyone was working on a How To book. I helped a little girl who was writing on how to plant a seed. First, make a hole, then put in the seed, get a bucket of water and pour in hole,... She was stymied on the next step. "Put the dirt back in the hole", a boy next to her chimed in.
Amazing Grace was writing about how to jump rope. I wanted to see her do it so we found someone using a jump rope and borrowed it for a second. She does know her stuff.
Out on the playground, Amazing Grace, taught me how important it is to try the hard things in life more than once.
She was stranded on the top of the playground equipment, not knowing how to get off. A little friend told her she needed to move several feet to the right and then jump off. I tried to reach her but she was too high to touch. She edged over carefully, looked down and jumped. Whew! A huge smile broke over her face and she promptly did it again.
At lunch I marveled how loud it was. I couldn't hear a thing in the cacophony of voices. "Who do you usually eat with?", I shouted at Amazing Grace. She told me she usually ate alone unless she ate with her friends. It does feel like you are alone if you are not with your friends.
I think it is true that everything you really need to know you can learn in Kindergarten and I was glad for the refresher course.
