School...and other things to worry about

So my "baby", Abby, is about to start Kindergarten. I have plenty of anxiety about that one single satement. Add to that the fact that I know NOTHING about her school, teacher, the way it all operates, hardly any of the parents of any Kindergarten students....and it's enough to drive me mad!

We went to orientation last Friday and my anxiety was compounded by 100%. Her teacher seems nice enough, and has been teaching quite a few years. The school has an open classroom setup, which is odd to me. None of the classrooms are actual "rooms". They are all divided off by bookshelves, boards and other things just no actual walls. I, personally, found it distracting because Abby's teacher was softspoken while the lady next to her was quite loud. Not to mention the parents in our class were talking among themselves and not even attempting to listen to the teacher as she explained a few important topics such as how important it was for her to know how each child gets to and from school.

Yesterday I took Abby for a haircut and mentioned my disbelief at the rude parents to the lady who was cutting her hair because I knew she also had a child starting Kindergarten at that school. She was amazed that something like that bothered me! She said, "well, most of us have done it all before and we don't need to hear it again." She went on to say that she hadn't listened to her child's teacher, but she and the person she had been talking to weren't rude about it but that she didn't hear the part about reading and points and needed to go back and ask. The whole point of orientation is to tell all 15 parents crucial info so you don't have to repeat yourself 15 times!

I am going to stop now before my blood pressure goes up. My point is, if the parents don't care....how will their kids learn that education is important? And meanwhile, MY child is stuck in the middle and I am not excited about that at all.

Teachers...

Lately, as Abby is learning new things it brings back memories of when I was in school and my favorite teachers. I was one of those kids that LOVED school. From day one I loved it. Much of that was because I had the very best Kindergarten teacher a child could ever have. Her name was Miss Linnie Grice.

I will be 29 in a couple of days and I remember exactly what Miss Linnie smelled like. I remember that she kept her paddle (yes, teachers had paddles when I was younger) under a big stuffed puppy dog on top of the filing cabinet. I also remember Drell Rainey had more meetings with that paddle than I'm sure he ever wanted to. I remember at nap time on days when it was raining Miss Linnie would leave the door open and I would listen to the rain.

I remember a pair of monkeys Miss Linnie had above her door that said "left" and "right" and sometimes when I'm thinking really hard about something those monkeys pop into my head. I remember where her alphabet chart and counting chart were hung. I even remember that the bathroom in our classroom smelled like tempra paint.

I remember many times when we sat around the piano in her room singing fun learning songs as a class. I remember making butter in a Mason jar. I remember cleaning the glue off the tables with shaving cream....boy was that fun! Snack time was always fun, and whenever I have to take snacks anywhere for kids I think of Mrs. Ruby Hamilton's peanut butter Rice Krispy Treats. I also remember Miss Linnie making me taste a mushroom at some kind of taste testing thing we did and how gross it was. I still don't like mushrooms no matter how much I want to.

As I sit here thinking I am full of nostalgia and tears are likely at any moment. I can't think of any single bad memory from Miss Linnie's classroom. Well, unless you count one day when I had to stay in at recess to re-color a picture of a blue bird that I rushed through and scribbled on. I find it strange that I don't remember exactly which kids were in my class, although I remember Drell Rainey, Veronica Tolfree, and Vincent Stroud with perfect clarity. I mostly remember Miss Linnie and how much I loved her.

Thanks, Miss Linnie, for all the great memories!