I hold out my hand for Cailin. “You’re my line leader today. Shall we head toward the classroom?”
Cailin places her tiny fingers in mine and does a happy skip and jump as we walk toward the hallway. She turns back to Linda, waving. “Bye, Linda. Have a good day.”
I pause and turn to the group. “Parents, you’re welcome to join us for a few minutes as we get settled in.”
Cailin holds her arm out wide. “Yes, come here. You can hold my other hand.”
Linda looks around at the other parents, whom she’s much older than, and then down at Cailin with a sideways smile. It’s obvious Linda isn’t sure what her role is, but after a beat, she joins us as we head back to my classroom.
After we enter, I tell the kids to find the seat where their name is written. I go over our daily routine of the calendar, the pledge, and our counting of how many days we’ve been in school. As the days add up, we’ll count them in fives and tens, helping them with bundling numbers.
I like teaching kindergarten because we have more freedom with our curriculum than the other grades, and I’m the only teacher who includes music in our free time. Every morning, we’ll work on a song, and at the end of the year, we’ll sing them for the parents.
Our first one isGod Bless America, so I ask the parents to sing with me as we introduce the students to the song for the first time. When we’re finished, I excuse them all, making sure to recognize who’s with which child, as we don’t allow them to leave the school until we see a ride is there, waiting for them.
* * *
The weeks fly by as summer turns to fall. My students have gotten the hang of our daily routine, and some are starting to test the limits of how they can act, which is very normal. With comfort comes misbehaving.
Now is when I have to turn up the sternness while not losing my Cinderella status with the kids. It’s a delicate line of being their friend but also their teacher. They need to respect me and know that when they’re in the classroom, they are to act a certain way.
I say, “No, thank you,” more times than I ever thought possible to kids as they do things they aren’t supposed to.
Some kids react and obviously don’t want to get in trouble while some need the constant reminder.
We’re discussing family trees and the difference between siblings, cousins, grandparents, and more. Each kid was to draw a picture of their family along with their favorite place in their house to give the art piece more depth. Now, each student stands to describe it to the class.
Timmy shows us a picture of his mom, dad, and sister in their kitchen. I love the way kids this age draw stick figures for people with fingers as straight lines, which take up more than fifty percent of their body size. I have a feeling it’s drawings like this that influenced the movieEdward Scissorhands.
“Very nice, Timmy. And why did you choose the kitchen for your drawing?” I ask.
“My mommy cooks really good food. She says I’m in the kitchen too much and I eat a lot because I’m a growing boy.”
The kids all laugh as he stands up taller to show how big he is.
“That you are,” I say. “What a wonderful picture. Okay, Cailin, why don’t you go next?”
Cailin steps to the front of the class where she holds up a picture of only her and who I assume is her dad, though I’ve only ever seen Linda drop her off or pick her up. The two of them are next to an airplane.
“This is me and my dad,” she says with a huge smile on her face. “He’s on the road a lot, so we fly to some really cool places.”
“How lucky! You’ve been on a plane before?” Devin, a student, asks.
I try to put the focus back on Cailin’s picture. “You did a fabulous job, but you were supposed to draw something from your house,” I say, reminding her about what the assignment was.
Her shoulders sag. “I know, Miss Russo, but I haven’t seen our new home yet. It’s being worked on, and my dad hasn’t been to Linda’s house that much, so I drew my favorite place to be with my dad instead.” Cailin joins the rest of the kids on the carpet after handing me her drawing.
As a teacher, you have to be very careful with each kid’s family situation, and I must say, a plane is a new one for me. Still, I’m quick to make sure she feels secure. “How fun that you’re getting a new place remodeled. Well then, I think you did a great job in choosing the plane. Thank you, Cailin. Lisa, why don’t you go next?”
I noticed when I filed her paperwork the first week of school that there was no mom listed on her emergency forms, and this drawing solidifies that there’s not one in the picture. Linda signed all the forms, and in the column where it asked for the relationship to the child, she simply stated,Friend of the family.
I haven’t seen or heard anything else about Cailin’s dad, and I wonder if he’ll make the father-daughter dance coming up. It’s my favorite event at the school, and I’d hate for Cailin to miss it.
* * *
Something I thought was cute at first but is starting to cause issues in class is Cailin’s singing during times when everyone is quiet. When other kids want to know what she’s singing, she starts to explain the song, and the cycle continues. How this little girl knows so many lyrics is beyond me.
I’ve broken up the kids into groups, and with the help of two parent volunteers, the groups rotate between stations, all working on different projects. This is when I get my one-on-one time with students as I pull them up to see where they are in their reading skills.
