kinder

On Thursdays I go help in Rebekah's kindergarten class.

I sat down to write for a few minutes before I left this morning and could not think of anything thing to write about. Not a single thing! Not one word, not one thought.

Now the day is winding down and I can think of lots of things to write about.  It's almost always this way for me. At the end of the day, my mind is buzzing with creativity. If I ever wrote for a living I would be the worst night owl, a tendency I already have, but when the creative juices only flow at night, I would never sleep!

So, kindergarten.

I enjoy going over to help in the school. I haven't always been able to do it though. When my big kids were younger, I tried a few times to go help but it wasn't very helpful to show up with three toddlers. Or I would try and help and someone would always be sick and I'd have to cancel again and again. Eventually I had to just give up.

Finally when Harry was a kindergartner and only Rebekah was at home, I could go volunteer because I traded babysitting with a friend.

Now I go once a week to Rebekah's class to help during math for about 30-40 minutes. It's fun to see who all the kids are that she talks about. It's also fun to see how she interacts with the other kids (bossy).

It's interesting to see her teacher in action. This is her teacher's first year teaching. She has a master's degree in education and taught preschool but never kindergarten. She does a pretty good job. However, I wish she had more discipline in the class. There are 28 kids which is a lot, even for an experienced teacher. I think she gets stressed out because the kids can be a handful. Which ironically, more discipline and follow through would help.

I think she feels like she must teach exactly word for word what the math worksheet says, instead of feeling free to explore a little and be creative. Maybe that kind of thing comes with time and experience. I can clearly see that teaching math to 28 wiggly 5/6 year olds is hard. At any given time I would guess that at least 10 of the kids are completely tuned out. And I'm not sure the teacher even knows it.

Happily, Rebekah love love loves her teacher. Like the kind of love the Catholics have for the Pope.

And that's all that really matters.

1 Comment

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That's how I currently feel. How much help can I be with 3 babies on my hip? But I would love to help in the classroom...eventually.

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