Everyday at 8:35 a thunderous roar approaches my classroom, like a tornado rolling through, or maybe a pack of motorcycles. But it is neither, it is simply my kindergarten students coming out for their reading and math groups. My coworker refers to our early morning dose of kindergarteners as a "slap in the face". They come out like a bull out of the shoot. They are wild.
And then they sit down and I ask them to write their name, or point to the letter "A" and then suddenly they go silent. What happen to their voices?
The next 40 minutes are the most painful of my day. Not because kindergarteners are particularly annoying, but because THESE particular kids are the least exposed kids I have ever met. Some don't know their name, most don't know more than 3 letters in the alphabet (thankfully we can usually count on them knowing X and 0), one kid told me his name was "Nugget" (thankfully it is not) and forget counting, holding a pencil and attempting to differentiate between a circle and a square. 40 minutes may as well be 40 hours because every single task I give these kids is painfully tedious.
Because of this I typically say "I don't like kindergarteners".
Then....I have 15 minutes of recess duty with 24 kindergarteners and I remember that I actually love kindergarteners, I just don't like teaching them. Kindergarteners have the best stories ever!
Monday M came busting out of class to tell me she went to church the night before. Here is the conversation:
Me: oh did you sing songs at church?
M: nope, I WATCHED A PLAAAAAAAAY.
Me: so fun! What was the play about?
M: JEEEEESSSSSSUUUUS
Me: what about Jesus?
M: well Jesus was a FULL GROWN MAN and he did NOT like Mary. Then Mary said "where is my scarf? Because Jesus was crying and needed a scarf.
The birth of Jesus according to a kindergartener.
And then they sit down and I ask them to write their name, or point to the letter "A" and then suddenly they go silent. What happen to their voices?
The next 40 minutes are the most painful of my day. Not because kindergarteners are particularly annoying, but because THESE particular kids are the least exposed kids I have ever met. Some don't know their name, most don't know more than 3 letters in the alphabet (thankfully we can usually count on them knowing X and 0), one kid told me his name was "Nugget" (thankfully it is not) and forget counting, holding a pencil and attempting to differentiate between a circle and a square. 40 minutes may as well be 40 hours because every single task I give these kids is painfully tedious.
Because of this I typically say "I don't like kindergarteners".
Then....I have 15 minutes of recess duty with 24 kindergarteners and I remember that I actually love kindergarteners, I just don't like teaching them. Kindergarteners have the best stories ever!
Monday M came busting out of class to tell me she went to church the night before. Here is the conversation:
Me: oh did you sing songs at church?
M: nope, I WATCHED A PLAAAAAAAAY.
Me: so fun! What was the play about?
M: JEEEEESSSSSSUUUUS
Me: what about Jesus?
M: well Jesus was a FULL GROWN MAN and he did NOT like Mary. Then Mary said "where is my scarf? Because Jesus was crying and needed a scarf.
The birth of Jesus according to a kindergartener.
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