Kindergarten

I don't think of myself as old (unless I want the senior discount then I will even hunch over a bit) however, this week I met my match with a kindergarten class.  A few months ago I told my husband to poke me if I ever even thought to take a substitute teacher job in a kindergarten or first grade class.  Well, I was weak and a friend of mine (kindergarten teacher) asked if I would take her class for three HALF days (8am to 11am) while she did end of year testing.  Puh, I thought, three HALF days (only two of them in a row) I can do that with one hand tied behind my back.  After all I just survived ten days with 7th and 8th graders how bad could it be??!!

Oh, how we forget the really bad things!  Take childbirth, who remembers how absolutely, freaking horribly that hurt, after a few years with the little darlings have past? (As long as you don't think of the terrible twos or teens.)  You have one and 2 or 3 years later you're doing it again.  I really don't remember if it was how great that baby smell was, the feeling I got when I watched a baby sleep, or just wanting to see someone sleep but it certainly was NOT the delivery!

On Monday I rediscovered the energy level of five year olds!!!!  It was like (I imagine) trying to run doggie training with a bunch of sixth month old springer spaniel puppies!  I don't even know how many students I had in the class exactly because they moved so fast it seemed like they were all twins.  There was an assembly and we got there as soon as we got coats off, backpacks unpacked, bathroom emergencies complete, questions about who I was asked and answered, and got lined-up (in line order).  This classroom is literally, right next to the gym and we were the last class to arrive..even the Pre-K class (4 year olds) made it before we did!!!!   We weren't in there 5 minutes when one of my students threw-up.  Fortunately, he missed everyone around him but as soon as I got him up and moving to the door, the two kids next to him thought they were supposed to close the gap and almost sat in it!

Disaster averted but silly me thought,"Okay, I got the worst over with.  What else could happen? I've only got a couple more hours."  Then I remembered that the last time I had thoughts like that I was a PE sub and a student broke his arm!  I quickly decided that I'd better try to re-grow those eyes in back of my head I had when my kids were little.  After all there were eggs in an incubator and fluffy, baby chicks in a box, add some kindergartners and it could all end up in chaos and catastrophe if I wasn't careful!  Well, without going into any further detail, let me tell you my three half days with this class was exhausting, educational, exciting, stressful, deafening, patience-testing, painful,and absolutely rewarding!  I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon but I had three GREAT mornings!

I may not have known when I was going to turn around and trip over one of them BUT I also never knew when I was going to get a hug, a special drawing or a dying dandelion.  I learned why we forget the bad parts of things like childbirth and 5 year olds, it's so we can re-experience the amazing things like baby smell, watching them sleep and unexpected hugs.

Well, that's it from the river's bend for today.