Well, the first day of school is in the past for 27 little Kindergarten students. We had the whole range of emotions from both children and parents. We had excitement, we had anxiety, we had fear, we had tears, and we had exuberance. The first day for me is always a bit of a shock. I always seem to remember how my classes are in June when they know EVERYTHING. I always tend to forget about September when they have no concept of school and all that it demands. These little people had to work so hard today and yesterday! They had to sit when maybe they would have rather stood, they had to sing when they may have rather chatted, they had to run in the gym when they may have rather sat, and mostly they had to do some structured work when they would have rather played at centers. That is the thing about school, there simply has to be structure and many of these little ones are not used to that. It is a huge day for them! It will not be long and they will be professionals at it and will be taking it all in stride, but for the next few weeks, maybe give them a little extra love, because they will need it. We are doing some "serious play" in Kindergarten, but it is serious and structured.
The kids did great and I am proud of all of them! I saw a little one who was sad and I saw a child go up to this student and put her arm around her and give her encouragement. The sad little one smiled and was off and going again. It is moments like this that always reinforce to me that Kindergarten is a special place to be.
