Remembering Kindergarten

Yeah, it was seventeen years ago. And for readers out there, it could've been a lot longer for you, or maybe shorter. Whatever length in years, kindergarten is a right of passage in someone's life. It is the first day in for what many could be between thirteen, seventeen, or even longer if you're going to be a doctor or a lawyer.

"Are you looking for someone?" asked the janitor. I remember him holding a broom in his hand. The janitor's room was a lot bigger back then. I was shy, and not use to talking to strangers. But I told him I was lost and could not find my classroom.

"You there, take her to her classroom." The janitor asked this random girl who was older than me to help me find my classroom. She must've been in fifth grade, because to me she seemed to be one of the oldest students there.

She took me to a classroom all right. And yes, she took me to a kindergarten classroom as well. But it wasn't the right room. I remember entering that classroom, and things didn't feel quite right to me. Perhaps it was because a little girl was crying her eyes out, with the teacher trying to comfort her.

After that, it was a bit of a blur. I do not remember how I got to my correct classroom.

I remember knowing a lot of things other kids didn't know, but not knowing how to do things that other kids knew. I didn't know how to tie my shoes, I sucked my thumb in class, when it came to play time I often played alone due to my shyness, and I hated little art activities we had at separate table stations. However, I loved the school food, I could say my ABCs backwards and forwards (yes literally I could say them backwards), I knew how to read way before I started kindergarten, I loved music class, and my best friend was my cousin.

I did full days of kindergarten, every day of the week. It didn't really bother me from what I remember.

Kids use to always come out of the bathrooms with their buttons and zippers undone because they didn't know how to button them, themselves. So the kindergarten teachers had to help them. I wonder if things changed today. I feel like nowadays if teachers were helping kids button their pants, there'd be some kind of uproar.

Though I didn't go to Catholic or private school, our teacher's assistant was actually a nun. Her name was Sister Lee Rose. When she would clean the chalk board at the end of the day with a wet towel, she use to write a letter on the chalk board, and we had to name the letter before it disappeared on the board.

Around Christmas time, Santa Clause came to our classroom and gave us candy-canes. I think I believed in Santa Clause for only a couple of years, because in kindergarten I never believed in him. One time when I went to sit on Santa's lap, while he told me to be a "good girl" I remember staring at his nose because it was really wrinkly, and it reminded me of our priest's nose. So I thought it was my priest in a Santa costume! From that point on, I thought he was fake.

I don't know if school's do this anymore because parents may complain about money issues, but during Christmas time we actually had to buy one gift for a classmate. Then our teacher would play music and we'd pass a gift around a circle. Girls were separate from boys. When the music stopped, whoever had the gift in their hand got to keep it, then move out of the circle.

I remember giving a huge thing of Play-Doh. The gift I received was some kind of girly doll comb set, which really wasn't things I liked to play with.

My teacher had us go outside once and get big ice-cream buckets of snow collected. We then brought them into the classroom and sat around a circle and talked about how bad it was to "eat snow." She wanted to explain to us how disgusting it was. So we waited for a while for the snow to melt in the bucket. Then finally when it was all melted, the water in the bucket looked nasty!

"Do you want to eat snow now?" she asked.

"NO!" we all shouted.

I got my hair cut during kindergarten. I had very long hair, with no bangs. During the school year I got my hair cut so that I had bangs in the front. I remember my cousin telling me, "I liked what you had before."

One of the last things I remember from kindergarten was "word of the day". We learned a new word, what it meant, and how to spell it. The only word I remember learning was "Library" because to me that seemed like one of the hardest words to remember. I don't know what it was about the word, but I remember staring at it a lot, and trying to spell it to myself without looking.

All in all, kindergarten was a great experience for me. I remember hiding an apple in the back of our cans in the cupboard at my house to save for my new teacher before I started. I don't remember what happened to it. I am sure my mom found it eventually.

Everyone's first year of school I am sure is just full of different experiences. It truly is a landmark in someone's life. I only hope that kids are getting the quality of education and that home-like feel when at school. After all, many times kids spend more time with their classmates and teachers than with their own parents or siblings. It is important that we value education in our children's lives. I remember kindergarten, even seventeen years later. I hope that my memories do not fade over time.

I would want my own children some day to have fond memories of school as well and even learn a thing or two.