the class of 2009? really?!?!?

so today . . . was our preschool and kindergarten graduation.

there is soooo much i could write about this. it is both a circus and a nightmare. i am sure the parents love it--they must, because they swarm to it every year. but as a teacher, i dread the day and thank God when it is over . . .

let's just say i had the beginnings of a migraine within the first five minutes. and it was all downhill from there.

i don't want to sound too negative (i know, it is already too late for that,) but i am somewhat jaded by the whole graduation thing. i mean, really, graduation from preschool? from kindergarten?? does anyone NOT graduate from preschool or kindergarten? i don't think so. so why do it? it just adds stress to everyone's lives, and do we really need more stress in our lives?

we practice for this performance for weeks. we purchase or make costumes. we remind the parents to be there early if they want photos of their child in graduation garb. we put the pressure of making a speech on a five year old. we walk down the aisle to pomp and circumstance. we expect 4 and 5 year old children to sit still while wearing hot robes and mortarboards that won't stay on their tiny little heads, while an adult makes a speech that no one is listening to. really. i am not making this up.

and then, in the space of half an hour, it is all over. and nothing has really changed. when they come to school tomorrow, they will sit in the same classroom with the same teacher and do the same things they have been doing for the last nine months. then in the fall they will move onto the next grade, as they would have even without the ceremony.

this ceremony is all for the adults--not the children. the children have no idea why they are wearing these "dresses," and why the tassel has to hang off the front of the hat where it can tickle their face, and why they are handed a blank piece of paper, rolled up and tied with a ribbon, while their real "diploma" has already been handed to their mom or dad so as not to get crumpled. they don't know when to sit and when to stand. they don't know why that guy is up there talking, and why they have to be there to hear it. and most of all, they don't understand why they can't just go sit with their parents--they are back there, the kids can see them if they turn around in their seats, which the teacher has repeatedly told them not to do, but mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and all the aunts and uncles and cousins are sitting back there, so why can't they go too?!?!

the other day rollie said to me, "you need to stop thinking of this as a performance, and start thinking of it as a photo opportunity for the parents." that was helpful to me. i know that as a parent, you want to remember every milestone your child faces. but i guess my question is, can't we enjoy the passing from one "grade" to the next without having to have a graduation ceremony? can't we just say "good job," eat some ice cream, and move on?

it has been a rough year for me. and tonight i am tired, and i have a headache. i have no more patience for parents pushing their kids. let them be kids! let them squish jello between their fingers. let them pretend to be a dinosaur--even if you are in the grocery store and people are looking at them like they aren't normal. let them get an answer wrong without ridiculing them--maybe they just don't know the right answer yet . . . childhood lasts such a short time, and they have to be grown-ups for so long. remember that they are not 10 years old, or 14 years old, and stop expecting them to act like they are!!

as the children left the sanctuary in their graduation gowns, they were announced as "the class of 2009!" and i am thinking, really? because i am pretty sure none of these children are heading off to the university in the fall. this was mostly the class of 2022 tonight. instead of applauding their "accomplishment" of completing preschool or kindertarten, let's think about how soon that high school graduation will be here, and what kind of people we are training them to be. let's quit worrying about if they can read when they are 4 and start worrying about if we are raising them to be a generation of competent, compassionate adults. because from my observations, there seems to be a shortage of those around here . . .

whew! ok, then . . . i guess i had some stuff to get off my chest. but i want to leave you with a smile, so here is something funny joshua said to me today. jonathan went home early, so when it was time to go use the bathroom, it was just joshua and me. when we started to wash our hands, i looked in the mirror and said, "uh oh--look at my hair. i guess i will have to fix it before graduation tonight." joshua said, "why?" i said, "well, i don't think it looks very good--i just dried it after i washed it this morning, and it is kind of sticking out everywhere." he looked at me for a minute, and then said, "you don't look so bad to me."

maybe instead of teaching them to tell time, i should have taught them about giving compliments. after all, they can always use a digital clock . . .

picture day: spring 2010

so today . . . was picture day at school.

i have issues with having my picture taken. and yet, because i am a teacher, i am subjected to this ordeal twice a year. i never expect much from the fall photos, but in the spring, i am always hopeful that my picture will turn out ok. yes, that is the best i can hope for--ok.

if you read yesterday's blog, you know that getting to school in a decent outfit for picture day was going to be a challenge. but in an odd turn of events, it was actually made easier by my current situation. i only kept one really great necklace out of hiding, so i knew i was going to wear that--which considerably narrowed my wardrobe choices.

in honor of the inevitable photo, i put mascara on. i wear makeup most days, but it is the mineral kind which i can apply in about three minutes (allowing more sleep time,) and i never, ever put on eye makeup to go to work. because really, do my five and six year olds care? or even notice?? no they do not. but the camera does! so i added eyeliner and mascara to my upper lashes, and then stared into the mirror, knowing it was time for the big decision--to line and mascara the lower lashes or not. this was a school picture--i was not going for smokey and sultry here (ok, people, you can stop laughing now!!!) but i did want my eyes to show up through my glasses . . . i looked at the clock. i had time. but my eyes didn't look too bad as they were, and if i messed it up . . .

of course, you know i decided to go for it. i pulled out the eyeliner and started. i soon wished i had left well enough alone. but it was too late.

usually i use a liquid eyeliner. but the last time i was at ulta, they had these pencil-type liners on sale and i thought i might try one. and it worked great on the upper lashes. but the story was completely different on the lower ones. i couldn't make a thin line! the eyeliner was too thick and dark. ok, don't panic. yes, the clock is ticking, but you can fix it. just get a q-tip and gently wipe some away . . . ok, that didn't work very well. now it is just all smudgy and messy looking. you have to get a little more off! ok, maybe that isn't too bad, but now you have to do the other eye. oh dear. use less, slow down, smudge some off. ok. look at the clock. yikes!! well now you have to put mascara on those lashes as well--just be careful. oh no! now is not a good time for this mascara to finally do it's job of lengthening! these are lower lashes here! and now they look like spider legs!!! let's see, what to do, what to do. ok, maybe if i put a tissue under them, then i can wipe some off without making a bigger mess. ok, maybe not. sheesh. there is no way to do this . . .

i finally just took my face and dashed to work, arriving only five minutes late. i noticed lots of curls and gelled spiky hair on my little dumplings. they were excited for picture day! (of course, none of them had to apply mascara and eyeliner.) and my class didn't even have to wear fancy, uncomfortable clothes, because they get their pictures taken in their graduation caps and gowns. and while i am not a fan of the whole preschool/kindergarten graduation thing, it does make picture day easier . . . the kids said, "yay! it's picture day! we get to wear nightgowns!!" yeah, they don't really get the significance of a graduation gown either . . .

we waited and waited for our turn. usually we get to go first, but i was still missing three kids at 9:30! so i guess they started with the classes at the other end of the hallway, which made us the last one. at 11:00, we were still waiting for our turn. ms. jessica came in relieve me for my break. i stood at the door for a couple of minutes in indecision. i really wanted to go to 7-11, but i wasn't sure i would have time. ms. jessica said, "oh you should have time. the class across the hall just went for their pictures." the class across the hall is a BIG class, with some challenging kids, so i thought, "oh yeah, plenty of time."

famous last words . . .

as i buzzed the door buzzer to get back into the building with my newly acquired soda and brownies (and chips, because i needed some carbs!) there was my class, on their way to the gym for pictures! yes, i almost missed it! i still don't know how the photographer finished that whole class full of wiggly kids before us in 15 minutes!

but it all worked out fine--i think. my class was photographed in record time. all the children smiled this year. and the photographer lied to me--as he always does--and said, "oh, your picture is good, good." (he is asian--that's how he talks. and he smiles when he says it, so i want to believe him. but i know the odds . . .)

and so, another picture day is history. and we survived. now we can just relax . . .

. . . until fall.

a baseball cap

so today . . . is the first day of my last week of school for this year.

i cannot even tell you how ready i am for summer vacation! because our school also provides daycare services, it is open all year. i am the only teacher on staff who gets the summers off--yes, i am special. the other day the kids were questioning me as to why i don't work in the summer. i told them it is so i don't get grouchy. i said if i had to work through the summer, i might be mean teacher ms. julie all the time instead of just once in a while. they smiled and said, "nuh uh!"

but it is true.

i honestly don't know how all the other teachers do it! i don't know how they come to school day after day after day and deal with a whole classroom full of other people's children with only a two week vacation! i need a beginning and an end to my school year, and a weekend is not enough! i get cranky just thinking about it!!

so in celebration of my upcoming summer vacation, i thought it would be fun to post funny kid stories all week. the only problem is, i don't have a funny kid story for today! we spent most of today in dress rehearsal for our graduation program. you know how i feel about preschool and kindergarten graduation, and yet still i am forced to participate every year. so the day of dress rehearsal is one of my least favorite days--let's just say i have the expression of a teen-aged girl most of the day. seriously, my eyes get tired of rolling . . .

but, lucky for you, i still have a few blogs from my days on myspace that i haven't shared yet. this one is from last year. it was originally posted on monday, december 15, 2008.

i am sharing a classroom with another teacher this year, which has it's challenges. one of those is that i can hear her when she is teaching (i'm sure she can hear me too.) sometimes the things i hear from the other side of the divider make me laugh out loud!

a few days ago she was teaching a lesson to her four year olds, and part of it required the children to identify some pictures. there was a picture of a baseball cap, but try as she might, she could not get anyone to say the word "cap." they just kept saying "hat," even though she had repeatedly said, "well, it is a hat, but it is a special kind of hat and has it's own name." most of our children speak a different language at home, so it is completely possible that they have never heard the word cap. finally, in desperation, she said, (in a somewhat commanding voice) "this is called a what!?!?" hoping they would say "a cap." one little girl, looking puzzled, said, "i didn't know that was called a what!!!"

dealing with language issues is one of the things i find both frustrating and fascinating about my current job. most of the children in my classroom speak mandarin chinese, tagalog, korean, vietnamese, or spanish at home. it always sort of jolts me when they speak to me in english and their parents in another language at the same time! i am stunned at their ability to process and think in two different languages at once. i occasionally have to correct their vocabulary or grammar, but they have amazing skills for bilingual five year olds!

one day i was talking to a parent, and he gave me some valuable information. he said that in mandarin, they do not have words for she or her--it is always he or his regardless of whether they are referring to a girl or a boy. this explains a lot to me. now instead of just correcting their vocabulary, i teach them the words she and her and when to use them. there are also no chinese words for turning something on or off--they say open or closed. so they don't turn the lights on, they open them. they don't turn the lights off, they close them. i no longer find it odd to hear someone say, "open the lights!" and yet, i have to be aware of it so i can teach them on and off.

but for this year, i am pretty much done teaching. we have graduation tomorrow night, our end of the year field trip on wednesday, and classroom clean-up for summer on thursday and friday. it is going to be a busy week. so now, i am going to "close" my brain and go to bed, because it isn't summer vacation yet. and i need to keep mean teacher ms. julie at bay for four more days . . .

a perfect day for a field trip

so today . . . schooooool's out. for. sumMER! (that's a song, in case you don't know . . . )

yes, today was my last official day of school for this year. i am going to be helping out a couple of days with the summer program next week, but my duties as kindergarten/pre-k teacher are over for this year.

it has been a busy week. i am exhausted.

and yet, i blog.

i just wanted to share a few photos of our field trip to adventure city yesterday. we had a nearly perfect day. the weather was awesome. there were only four large groups there, instead of the usual 20-25, so there were no lines for anything. the kids were really good. and we had a wonderful day together!

i didn't know how the kids were going to do with the rides. i have a couple that i thought would probably spend a large part of the day standing in line saying, "i don't think i want to do that." so we started off slowly with the small ferris wheel-like ride and then went to the airplanes. i almost lost one there but after convincimg her to give it a try, they couldn't get the the next ride fast enough! they were fearless!!

i like the balloons, so we rode those a few times.
i taught the kids how to ride with their hands in the air to enhance their riding experience.it enhanced it all right! their little bodies were sliding all over the place and they laughed and laughed.because our resident professional photographer was unable to come with us today, i had to do all the picture taking. as we were sitting in the balloons, i realized that meant i was not going to be in any of the pictures. so i handed my camera to the girls and said, "take a picture of us!" and so they did.because there were so few large groups today, there were NO LINES! in fact, the roller coaster operator just kept letting the roller coaster go around and around and around. a normal ride is two times around the track, but one time he let it continue 8 or 10 times!! after the fourth time i looked at him (because i was not riding that thing! the kids love it, but it is too herky-jerky for me!!) and he said, "hey, there is no line. as long as none of them look sick, i'm just going to let it keep going!"i could not believe they were able to take it! but every time they came around, they were laughing even harder . . . and let me just say, it was HARD to get a picture, it went by so fast!!

finally i made the kids stop for lunch. usually we arrive at the park around 10:15 and by 10:45 the kids are starting to ask about lunch. because, you know, for a field trip the moms pack all sorts of delicious food for them. but this year i couldn't get them to stop to eat. finally at 12:45 i just said, "it is lunch time--let's go eat." when we were done, one little girl said to me, "you need to drink some water. you didn't drink any!" i always tell the kids to bring water, because i know it will be warm and they will need to hydrate. but i had an unfinished soda from breakfast (i know, but graduation was the night before and i needed the energy,) so i had finished that. i just looked at her. and then i said, "what? are you my mother?!?" without even batting an eye, she just looked straight at me, handed me my water bottle, and said, "drink this!"

i love her! she is going to be a great mom someday!

when we finished and went back into the park, they immediately wanted to go to drop zone. i thought that might be a bad idea, in light of what we had just consumed. so i made them ride the carousel. yes, i know it wasn't very exciting after the morning we had, but it is always a good photo op . . .we ended the day at drop zone. by this time most of the groups had left, so the operator just let us ride and ride and ride . . .
i know i whine about my job. there are times when i get very frustrated by some of the things i cope with. but i am very lucky to get to spend my days with tiny little humans who, at the end of the day, just want to have fun. and today we did. we had tons of it! i am really going to miss them . . .