kindergarten Chaos, Part 1: Class Pictures ;-)

These are posts from my best friend that works with 5 year olds. I am just instereted in your feedback:


I looked patiently at the 20 squirming bodies seated before me on the carpet. Garrett was spinning in mad, impulsive circles; Annabelle was off in a corner lost in her own, private "Care Bear Land" with not a thought to the rest of us; Ryly was once again putting her teacher to the test as she wandered aimlessly around the carpet and gently touched anything that caught her fancy; little Keefer stood before me with a big grin and his arms outspread asking, "Hug? Hug? HUG?!" until I could manage to bend down and hug him tight; Marcus was rolling around on the carpet and Richard was forgetting (as usual) to use an indoor voice. I wiped my sweaty brow with determination as I gazed at my little ones, wondering if I could have ever possibly been so squirmy, loud, and silly when I was in kindergarten. No way, not me! I'm SURE I was mature and refined when I was a kindergarten baby . . . I'm sure I never pouted, whined, tattle-tailed, squirmed, or begged. I'm sure, when I was in kindergarten, I never made a mess and I most-certainly never put too much glue on an art project or left the lid off of a can of play-dough. I'm sure I always did exactly what my teacher told me to do (including NOT picking my nose!) and I know I always did it in a timely manner . . . RIGHT?!!?

As my class wiggled like a garden full of carefree earthworms, I noticed the freshly-slicked hair, the fancy dresses, and the firmly pressed slacks and I remembered where we were supposed to be going. Picture Day! Ahhh, the memories of posing with your class for a wild and wacky class picture and then cowering with embarrassment as individual pictures were taken, wondering, "Is anybody watching me get my picture taken right now?!!?" I began to call my student's names to line up, wondering incessantly, "Is Annabelle shorter than Keefer? Should Emilia be in front of Brianna? Where should Alizae stand?" As soon as I would begin to get on a role with lining up 20 active five-year-olds by height, I would hear, "Miss Sloan, Garrett's taller than me!" or "Miss Sloan, where am I supposed to be again?!!?" As soon as those little dilemmas were solved . . . "Miss Sloan, I have to go potty!" and, "Miss Sloan, Marcus just went into the reading corner!" would echo across the classroom. Also, kindergatners sometimes have a tough time being TOLD where to go or stand . . . often they have to be gently led like bewildered little sheep. It seemed as if, as soon as they were all lined up, someone would somehow magically slip out of line or someone else would shriek, "Miss Sloan, Ezra hit me!"

When we were all lined up and ready to invade the calm serenity of the picture people, I glanced at my darling little angels, all primped and pressed, relieved that we were going to have our pictures taken before the bedlam that I knew lunch would bring. I was certain that our parents wouldn't be too happy to get pictures back that showed ketchup designs on dress shirts, faces covered in today's cafeteria special, and once-beautiful hair standing on end.

As we lined up for our class picture, the fun really began. Several times, I found myself shrugging and mumbling, "I know I'm going to laugh about this later . . . I KNOW I'm going to laugh about this later . . ." First of all, remember the part about sheep? Well, when you're in kindergarten, it's also quite difficult to scoot over, move up a step, or switch to a different spot when merely asked to do so. Also, it was so hard to remember to keep our hands down (out of our faces) and to look at the camera when the picture was being taken . . . smiling was another story! We had to retake our picture several times and it seemed that the silliness increased after each picture. Marcus (our little one who is in special education) was turning away from the camera and attempting to make a run for it with each click of the camera (as my teacher's assistant tried to keep him in place and smiling!) and Alec (who is serverly autistic) decided that he had had enough and was biting and and scratching his aide to be sure that she knew about it; Richard suddenly decided that he was going to plop down on the step and Annabelle was gazing off into the wild blue yonder; Nicholas was touching the boy in front of him and Garrett was swinging his arms as if to take flight. And then, there was Ryly . . .

Ryly began of picture session with her fingers in her mouth. When asked to remove her fingers from her mouth, she broke into stubborn tears and refused to look at the camera for the next three pictures. Now, Ryly is VERY strong-willed . . . Ryly LOVES to test adults and push buttons . . . Ryly has a mind and a will of her own. "Ryly," I coaxed. "This is our CLASS PICTURE! (I resorted to begging, something I try NEVER to do!) Please, PLEASE cooperate so that we can take a nice picture! THINK about the rest of the class! Don't you want to come to our Halloween party?!!?" She continued to push my bedraggled buttons until finally we managed to encourage her to at least LOOK at the photographer for one last shot. In the meantime, one of my parents had joined us and was singing with the kids in an attempt to get a decent class picture out of them (by this point we were ALL completely worn out!) and her little one (Cougar, who is 2) mangaged to finagle his way into our picture as well. When we finally accepted what we had, I asked the photographer, "My class was probably the most 'interesting' class to try to get a picture of, right?!" She just laughed and said, "Do you want me to lie to you?" When our picture comes back, I hope that each little face will be bright and smiling (fake kindergarten smiles and all!) . . . even if their teacher is looking exasperated and amused in the last row.

And now, I sit and reflect, covered in glitter, pumpkin pulp, and dried glue . . . ready for a nap. My thoughts are filled with plans for tomorrow and with great ideas for Halloween games and projects to spread out over the next few days. I love my job . . . no day is ever the same and where else can you spend all day singing, dancing, laughing, carving pumpkins and then cooking the seeds for snacktime, and creating fabulous art projects?!!?