K is for Kindergarten

SO I am still doing the Alphabet challenge from A to Z and today is letter K.
I am going out of town this am till late tonight-so I will post my KINDERGARTEN pictures later, going to a baby shower in Long Island- long day but it should be fun.
When you hear the word Kindergarten what comes to mind? fear, worry, happiness or relief?
I think of worry  because my son is not ready socially and I am not ready for him to go yet emotionally. He is my only son. You may also have a little fear that your son or daughter is not ready for kindergarten or maybe you are just sad that they will ride the bus and you can't full protect them any more.  OR maybe you are ready for them to leave the nest so you can have some me time or mom time. A quick aside: A friend of mine had 2 girls she told me that she would NOT cry when her oldest went to Kindergarten she is not a big crier. She told me her daughter had gotten a bit fresh and she was ready to have her go for a few hours all day. So the big day came and she was not emotional at all but when her daughter sat down on the bus she began to bawl. She then continued to get into her car and follow the bus crying and waving good-bye. It turns out that bus drivers are to call dispatch and let them know if a car follows a bus for more than 4 miles, so needless to say, a police officer stopped her to tell her this and to tell her to go home and relax and have a cup of tea.  SO FUNNY and don't those men know our maternal instincts.

 Speaking of tea- I have been a pre-k teacher and a kindergarten teacher for many years and my private school did not have busing so the parents would drop off there kindergartners sometimes with fathers, always with cameras and of course some of them were crying.  I would always give them a survival kit, that morning which included....
Dearest Kindergarten Parents,
Here is a little "gift" for you as you leave your precious one with me on the first day of school. As you hold this cotton ball in your hand, the softness will help you to
remember the gentle spirit of your child. After you've gone home and dried
your tears, make yourself a hot cup of tea . Put up your feet and
relax. Remember that together you and I will work for your child to be the
best they can be.
Thank you for entrusting your child to me for the coming school year. I will
do my very best every day to be your child's guide in learning and exploring
this bright, new world they've just stepped into.
Sincerely,
(your signature)
(Put poem in a ziplock bag with the following items: a cotton ball, a Kleenex and a tea bag)

  On another thought about Kindergarten what do you remember about YOUR kindergarten. I have very few memories from Kindergarten, my memory only remembers third grade.   I remember the first day of school on the school bus and a girl was crying the entire ride to school, I asked her,"Don't worry don't miss your mom you will have fun." she told me I don't miss my mom, I am afraid the bus driver won't remember where I live when we go home and I will never find her again. I told her that the bus driver would remember. We became friends.  Later on in the year a neighbor taught me how to tie my shoes, my son will be lucky to learn this skill before he is 7 years old- boys are so different- Laugh out loud!!!
Kindergartners are one of my favorite ages to work with, they learn quickly and become to love literature and after a few months they can draw such great pictures in there journals. I miss that age group.
 Let's not forget the ever popular poem: ( not the exact one but the idea of it)
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or you relilgion.
SO KEEP the memory alive of KINDERGARTEN and don't cry too much the day you put your child on the bus for the first time. Maybe sing a little KARAOKE .
Tomorrow's post is letter L for Life renewal it's a good one so you don't want to miss it.