Each morning, I visit a couple of teachers' classrooms to check on how their students behaved the previous day. Each class has two specific goals, such as to use kind words and to follow first request. After receiving a 1-10 score for each goal from the teacher, I choose a child to color in vertical bar graphs on a rainbow chart. For example, if the score is 7, the child colors 7 boxes on the graph. Well today I asked a handsome dark-haired boy to color in two fantastic scores...a 10 and a 10. As he pondered which crayons to use, a fair-skinned girl at his table predicted that he'd choose pink. "Yeah, he colors everything pink," said a tawny-haired neighbor. Curious, I asked the boy who was about to color, "So do you like the color pink?" Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, he said, "Yeah, for PIGS." I snorted with laughter!
Hearing an interesting conversation during the early morning rush to classes one day last week, I looked behind me and saw three smiling first grade boys good-naturedly shoving each other around. "I call the fastest!" said a dark-eyed boy. "I call the smartest!" said a blond. Before the third could get in a word, I laughingly said, "Who calls the SWEETEST?" All together, the three musketeers groaned, "Ewwww!" They shook their heads, rolled their eyes at me, and sauntered on into class. Hee hee...there's always someone around to tease!
As I trotted down the hall today with my arms full of teaching materials, I heard a squeaky voice shout from afar, "Miss Mimi! Miss Mimi, I wanna show you my t-shirt!" Turning around, I watched a freckle-faced kindergartner with a new haircut hustle my way. Putting his hands on his hips and thrusting out his tummy to better show off his shirt, he stood still for me to read the following: "Let's Trade. You give me $100 (arrow pointing to a hundred dollar bill) and I give you PEACE AND QUIET! " I giggled, especially since this little boy is exuberant but quite well behaved, and he turned around and skipped on down to the library. Primary school hallways can be such fun!
Here's a cute story that occurred in a kindergarten class yesterday. I've been teaching about calming down strong feelings and doing the right thing. Yesterday, I focused on talking to someone you trust about your worries, fears, and problems. To make the point that people can't read our minds and may not know what's bothering us unless we tell them, we played a game. I told a secret to an adorable red-haired boy, and the class tried to either guess what I'd told him or read our minds. As children raised their hands, my accomplice called on them. Guesses varied and included: "You're giving us a party!" "You're getting a puppy." "Always brush your teeth." "Care about each others' feelings." "Uhh....I forgot!" Anyway, nobody guessed correctly and nobody read our minds, so I asked my helper to tell the class the secret I'd told him. In a shy voice and with a sly grin, he said, "She said her husband has big muscles." As the teachers laughed and many children sighed and shook their heads, one petite girl blurted out, "I was gonna SAY that!"' Another yelled, "Yeah, me TOO!" The teachers and I raised our eyebrows, shook our heads with a giggle, and said, "Ahhhh...SURE you were!"
Today I read an adorable story to a couple of kindergarten classes. It's called Darcy and Gran Don't Like Babies, and the point I make is that it helps to talk to someone you trust when you have a problem. Darcy, the main character, is disgusted with her new baby brother, and she doesn't hesitate to announce this fact to everyone she sees. "I don't like the new baby," she attests to her mom, her dad, a neighbor, and the doctor. Each of these characters tries to convince her that she really does like the baby, and this annoys Darcy. She wants someone to listen and UNDERSTAND! Finally she finds an ally when she talks to her gran. Gran says matter-of-factly, "Neither do I. Never did like babies." Darcy and Gran go on to list the things they dislike: Babies can be smelly, they cry a lot, and they get all the attention. Then the two allies go on an adventure to the park, where babies aren't in their way on the jungle gym, swing, see-saw, or slide. Of course Darcy's mood mellows at the end of the story, in large part because she's been listened to and supported in her feelings about this new addition to the family. Well the kindergartners laughed all throughout the book, as it really was funny. At one point a little girl with long blond hair raised her hand and said, "I know just what she means. My baby has bad smells, too." A minute later she commented, "Yea, my baby gets all the attention, too," and she nodded her head with empathy for Darcy. Looking around the classroom, I noticed lots of bobbing heads and expressions ranging from wistful to grossed out. Judging from the way the children related to this story, it appears that our kindergarten families have had a bumper crop of babies born lately!
