Today S had a Valentine's Day party in kindergarten. I was asked to bring juice boxes for the kids, which was easy enough to do. I went into the classroom today to help with the party. It was kind of strange being back in a kindergarten classroom again after so long.
Long ago, I used to teach kindergarten. My first few years were spent teaching in a private kindergarten and then I moved to teaching in the public school for a few years. For the most part, I enjoyed teaching and working with the kids. What caused the most headaches for me was the administration. They often made a teacher's job much harder than it already is. Anyone who sticks it out teaching for more than a few years deserves a medal. Actually, teachers who make it through their first year of teaching deserve a medal too. And my medal I mean a really huge pay raise because teachers don't get paid anywhere near enough for the jobs they do.
Anyway, it was fun being back in a kindergarten classroom today. S's class has a good size classroom, with a tiered book/reading corner, a block area (because blocks!), a dramatic play area which is currently a restaurant, an art area, a computer area, as well as a big open area for circle time. Yup, they still do circle time. I think there will always be a circle time in kindergarten.
When I arrived the teacher was reading the kids a story about love because it is the day before Valentine's Day. Then the kids moved to their special seats to wait their turn for handing out their Valentines. I helped kids read names because names can be tricky when you have the handwriting of a 5 or 6 year old. Of course every child that needed help would come up to me and wave the card around while asking me whose name was on it. I guess they wanted to test my vision today!
I have a lot of respect for S's teacher. Her class is made up of 5 girls and 12 boys, and most of those boys are your typical active 5 and 6 year old boys. But she has great control over the class without being bossy or too strict. She kept saying how wound up the kids were but honestly, they were the calmest group of kindergartners I've ever seen at a Valentine's party. Anytime they started getting too out of control she would redirect them to something else that would help them to refocus and be calm again. Although she did admit to me that yesterday she threatened to take away their party because the whole class was being wild. I can't blame her for that - when I was teaching I would often use that tactic myself.
So I helped the kids pass out the Valentines and helped them pass out the treats they brought in (all peanut free, of course). More importantly, I got to see how S is in her class and how she acts with her classmates (she's less whiny at school). I also got to spend some time with her classmates, getting to know them. It was nice to be able to put faces and personalities with the names she talks about at home, especially CG, who she says is her boyfriend. Yup, that started on the first day of school. Apparently my daughter is the queen bee of the classroom - the teacher said that all the kids argue over who gets to sit next to her. I must teach her with great popularity comes great responsibility.
All in all it was fun to be back in, helping out a fellow teacher. I did let S's teacher know that if she needs an extra set of hands I'm around during the day and wouldn't mind coming in to help. She was very pleased to hear that, so I may be spending more time in kindergarten in the future. Who knew after all this time I'd possibly be going back to kindergarten? :-)
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