Omg, how can I POSSIBLY finish ALL I NEED TO DO? (aka It is NOT the end of the year....)

It came without ribbons!  It came without tags!  It came without packages, boxes or bags!   The end of the year has come once again, and teachers are rushing to fit everything in!

I think I can speak for most teachers when I tell you what most of us all across the country are saying.  “It’s May?  MAY???? We cannot possibly have a month of school left.

“There’s so much left to teach.  I haven’t covered the Pythagorean theorem; they need to learn their square roots to a million; how to conjugate verbs in Chinese, and how to leap a tall building in a single bound! There’s SO much left to do!!”

Yep, in the blink of an eye it’s here. But the truth of the matter is, no matter how many hours are in the day and no matter how many days are in a year, all teachers end the year feeling that they need a BIT more time with their class.

I sat with the children on carpet today and we talked about all the things that they had learned in this, their first year of school. 

“Boys and girls, we’ve been in school a billion days…or maybe 153.   Can you tell me some of the things you’ve learned this year?” 

I learned that numbers keep going.  They never, ever stop!

I learned my times tables and multiplication! (Huh?  I’m better than I thought!  I wasn’t even TRYING to do that!)

I learned that if you don’t want something you say, “No thank you!”  We learned to always bring our good manners to school. 

I learned that if something happens, and you have a bad day at school that the next day at school is a brand new day and you can always start over!   Every day is a new day!

I learned that you always flush the toilet.  Oh, and that you always shut the door when you go to the bathroom.  

I didn’t learn anything.  (Wait, aren’t you the one who is reading now?  Doesn’t that count??)

I learned you should never be too active- because I was too active and fell off the table.

I learned that a wetland doesn’t have to be wet.  (Well, we are waiting for Mother Nature to fill our new wetland.  It WILL be wet.)

I learned to be nice, and to say yes if someone wants to play with you.

I learned that friendship never ends.  Even if you get mad at someone, the next minute you are friends again!

I learned that if you want to keep a friend you have to be a friend.

After our discussion, we took a short trip down to the first grade hallway to see the “big kids”, meet some first grade teachers and ask them some burning questions. (I overheard one little fella say to another, “Boy, I hope we get a nap in first grade.  I kind of miss that…)  As we made our way down the hall, our little Ruthii turned to me and said, “Mrs. Smythe, we’re not actually GOING to first grade to STAY, are we?” 

“No, we’re just going for a quick visit!”

“Whew.  I was worried.  I’m not quite done with kindergarten yet.”  And with a smile and a Skip to My Lou, she rushed ahead to join her curious classmates on the next leg of what will prove to be an exciting adventure. 

(This is one of my kindergarten columns from several years ago.  I am WAY too busy to think this week.....and if you're a teacher, you KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!)