Kindergartener: “Do you have a daughter?”
Me: “No, I don’t.”
K: “Well, you look like you do.”
M: “Why do you think that?”
K: “‘Cause you’re OLD!”
Day 1: done. I survived! Woo hoo! As I am working with small children, particularly kindergarteners, I plan on beginning each post from here on out with my favorite quote of the day because kids say the funniest things.
Due to testing for the older grades, I’ll be spending the entirety of this week in Mrs. Cohen’s kindergarten class. If anyone needs any indication of how my day went, well, let’s just say that it’s going to be an early night for me. Don’t get me wrong, I adore small children, especially when they’re potty trained and know how to spell their own name. However, even as an ESL tutor and a camp counselor, I don’t know if anything could’ve quite prepared me for the chaos that is twenty-eight children aged five- or six-years-old at the end of May. People who think teachers are paid enough have never stepped foot in a kindergarten classroom with less than two weeks left of the school year and discovered things to be serene. At one point in the day, I looked up at the clock and realized, with utter horror, that it was only 1:00.
Now, it might sound like today was dreadful, but it wasn’t. I had loads of fun with all of the kids, even the ones I initially struggled with. Sure, there were some tantrums, some troublemakers, and some who just flat out ignored every authoritative figure, but with every conniption, there is something pleasant. There’s the pride in working one-on-one with a student and watching them get through a particularly tough word in a book or when helping them through a math assignment. There’s the joy in seeing them dance around to Uptown Funk during a break. There’s the elation in all of them wanting to sit next to you during lunch. There’s the feeling of warmth as all the kids cheer when you tell them you’ll be back the next day.
Yeah, kindergarteners can suck the energy out of you, but seeing the smiles on their faces is completely and utterly worth it. I’m proud and excited to be spending these next two weeks with the kids I met today, and I simply cannot wait to see what tomorrow will bring.