10 Things I Like About Kindergarten

1. It's 3 hours. That's right, three hours. If I am having a crummy day, it's already almost over!

2. I love getting home at 12:30. Can I tell you how much better part time is? Especially since I will be again writing 6 weeks of sub plans soon (yes, for the second year in a row...).

3. Everything is SO cool to the students. For example, today we learned the letter n. The art center was making necklaces out of noodles and assorted beads. Can I tell you who the coolest teacher on the block was today? That's right, Mrs. Rowberry!

4. Snack. We have snack everyday. Too bad I don't eat at snack. It's usually too busy. Ah well.

5. Music! We sing in the morning. We sing after calendar. We sing between lessons. We sing when we've been sitting too long. We sing at the end of the day. We sing just for fun. I love Dr. Jean!

6. They are so excited for school. This is quite a few of my students' first school experience and boy are they excited to learn. I love that they are excited to learn!

7. Kindergartners don't let stuff get under their skin. One minute they could be bawling because so-and-so didn't want to sit by them and the next they will be happily doing their work. Although I DETEST the crying (hmmm...should I really be an early childhood educator?), I do love how they don't get mad at me when I correct a negative behavior. One thing you should know about me as a teacher is I am not like "oh, poor you..." and reinforce their crying. I'm more of the "I'm sorry you are sad but let's make a better choice. What can you do to make the situation better?" teacher. So going back to the early childhood educator comment, I am a great teacher when it comes to create independent learners, but not a great teacher when it comes to comforting the criers--especially the chronic criers.

8. As I mentioned before, they really don't have any inhibitions. They are willing to try anything. The say anything (remember the "Mrs. Rowberry, you look like you're going to have a baby!" comment?).

9. As my sister-in-law Victoria mentioned, they are great for my self-esteem. A ridiculous looking tree that I quickly draw becomes a Monet in their eyes (maybe because I tell them to squint?). Although today they did like my "preschool" tree better than my "kindergarten" tree. Ah well, can't win them all!

10. I love their smiles! I'm not going to lie, I miss my second graders terribly. 3 years will do that to ya. And today I almost cried because I missed teaching with Paula and Erin so much. I feel a little lonely because I am totally by myself. There is another kindergarten teacher, but we don't see each other at all during the day and we both do our own thing. But I am happy teaching the little ones. I will really miss teaching next year, but I am really excited to be a stay-at-home mom with 2 (that's right...TWO) kiddos of my own!

And because picture-less posts are not very exciting, here are some cute pictures of Elinor from this past weekend. You can really see those bottom teeth in one of them. Are you surprised that my daughter likes ice cream?


Oh, and the big news: We are moving! To this townhouse! The bedrooms are downstairs in this one.