We sit, huddled tightly together in the cramped space of a corner. The blinds are darkly drawn, the door is shut. Locked. Little bodies press in close together to the wall. I place my body as a barrier along the tips of their tiny feet, all the while smiling into anxious children’s eyes and modelling …
Driving down a street in Summerside, P.E.I. today, I realized that the way you drive says a lot about who you are and what you do. For instance, I was idling behind a vehicle driven by a woman who I could just tell was a teacher. We were both lined up at a crosswalk, and …
I am a kindergarten teacher. I have the unique privilege of teaching children who WANT to go to school. Children who look downcast when you tell them Saturday is a day off and that after Saturday is Sunday-another day away from school. Children who share that what makes them happy is ‘going to school’. Children …
If you want pure, unadulterated honesty- the kind of honesty that will bring you to your knees or send you into fits of laughter, step inside a Kindergarten classroom. The concept was invented for four and five-year olds. I had a student once who shared with me what her mother wore to bed at night. …
If anyone had told me three years ago I would be teaching kindergarten, I would have politely laughed at them. If anyone had told me three years ago I would be teaching kindergarten, and one of my students would be my charming little M.A., I would have (politely) laughed at them and then high-tailed it …
First day of school bloopers: I got called Mrs. Wood (which ran a close second to “what’s your name again???”) all day. I think it was the “smell ya later” that the infamous D.W. (our vivacious former Vice-principal) said on her way out the kindergarten door, that really stuck with them. As I was on …
I am checking e-mails when I come across one from a colleague of mine. He and I are on opposite ends of the spectrum in the areas we teach and also have very different social circles within our work environment. However, as we had collaborated ideas at the committee level over the past year, this …
Library day for Kindergarten A. I, for one, am stoked. Library day is every third Monday, and it is a twenty minute interlude from the hectic pace of life in the zoo. It is the gift that keeps on giving. When library day comes, we all get to escape the confines of the classroom, head …
My students are all colouring pictures of teddy bears which they have all coincidentally named after themselves. I am standing in front of them trying to re-cap a lesson we have just finished on healthy living. A visit by two public health nurses, one teddy bear clinic and seven booklets of information later, we are …
I am sitting on the blue rug in my classroom with three little boys. Guilty, they wait for the final verdict from me and if they are lucky, a pardon. I look at one, and ask the question, “Why did you push Little Girl on the playground?” Pause. I can see the wheels turning in …
I have a day out of the classroom today (assessment meetings-JOY!), courtesy of the Western School Board for which I am employed. I feel almost giddy as I leisurely get myself ready and line my ducks up in a row for the day. Everything is taking longer this morning, and I feel so GENEROUS with …
It is playground duty day, and I am trudging around outside, trying to avoid as much as possible the remaining patches of snow and ice. I am wearing a heavy winter jacket, snow pants, a hat and gloves with a pair of unfashionable black, knee-high riding boots. I may look like a frump, but I …