Teacher Appreciation

This week at my son's kindergarten was Teacher Appreciation week. One of the days the PTA had asked for one mom per class to "lunch sit". Stay with the class during lunch so that the teacher can go down the hall, to the PTA room and have lunch with the other teachers. I said I would. It's only 45 minutes, how bad could it be.

Now, there is no lunch room at the school, so they eat in their classrooms. I get to school just in time to take them down the hall, to the lunch service area so they can pick up their lunches and take them back to the room. It immediately begins! Miss Elizabeth! Can Wheeler pick me? (you see, normally when I go have lunch with him we eat out in the hall and Wheeler gets to pick 2 friends to come with us). Well, I explain that today, I'll be eating in the room with all of them. They either don't hear that or don't understand it because it goes on all the way down the hall. "Is Wheeler going to pick me?" "Wheeler never picks me."

Somehow on the way back down the hall they are beginning to get it. "Are you our teacher?" they ask. But they all ask it, one at a time, as if they didn't just hear the other one ask it. So 20 times I say, "Sort of, just while Ms. Holloway goes to have lunch with the other teachers."

So we get back in the room and Ms. Holloway has told me that the first 10 minutes of lunch is silent lunch, or they won't eat. They all know this, they do it every day. That's great! I'm thinking, 10 minutes of silence. Hah! I go to sit at Ms. Holloway's desk and one comes to give me a hug, I say thank you but go back to your seat and eat your lunch. Then comes the next one, then the next etc...So we go through that for about 10 kids. Funny thing about this, it's not Wheeler. He has no interest in giving me a hug or holding my hand while we walk down the hall, it is all the other ones. Finally, they are all in their seats, we have about 7 minutes to go on silent lunch, and they all start, one at a time of course, tattling! Tattling a little bit on each other but mostly tattling on Wheeler. Tattling on anything he might have done to them any time this past school year. "One time, Wheeler pushed me into the bathrooom.", "Wheeler doesn't eat his sandwich at lunch", "Wheeler's not nice, he wouldn't pick me to eat with him at lunch today" etc.... I just said over and over, "Tattling is talking too!" Didn't matter, they kept on.

In the meantime, one of them burps, LOUD!!. Well, if you don't know me, let me just tell you, that is not acceptable. All he can say is "I said excuse me". So he and I go round and round about closing your mouth, keeping your lips together and covering your mouth, make it as quiet as possible. Well, he does it 3 more times, then another one does is, then another one. And their response to me is..."I said excuse me" No matter how loud it was or how wide they opened their mouth. You would think they might stop after they saw the steam coming out of my ears.

After they eat, they line up to go to the bathroom, they have a bathroom in their class room so that is nice. One little girl I notice is in the front of the line to go to the bathroom next. But the next time I look up, she is still there, but the child who was behind her has now gone in. She is doing the dance, she needs to go bad! I say, "How come boy child went in? Girl child was next?" They all inform me that she is scared to go in to the bathroom by herself and close the door. Well I can't go with her, then the other 19 kids are left unsupervised. "What do I do?" I ask the wise 5 year olds. They tell me she has to go but leave the door open. "Okay, I say, go ahead and just leave the door cracked" But she is still scared and fixing to have a panic attack right there, or go to the bathroom on the floor one. Finally, with some coaxing and actual pushing (gentle ofcourse), I get her in the bathroom but have to stand in the doorway with the door closed to my hip.

Well, that's all I can take, we are going outside! Right now! So, I sit on the bench, and 6 of them sit right down with me. I shoo them away and tell them they need to run that energy off. They keep coming back, I keep shooing them away. Then of course, there is more tattling etc...

Finally, Ms. Holloway comes back and they all are elated to see her! But no one was as elated as I was!

Thank you Ms. Holloway for remaining calm around these little guys. Thank you for somehow, managing to teach them to read and write among all of this chaos!! You are greatly appreciated!