on teaching kindergarten

What do 9 parents, one grandma, three dogs in a baby carriage, a toddler, and two four year olds have in common? They all came to hang out in my classroom 45 minutes before school got out today. That’s right. 45 minutes early. As if I didn’t have enough on my plate with the 19 kindergarteners who were supposed to be there, I ended up with two extra kids and a whole bunch of on-lookers loitering in the back of my classroom while I attempted to maintain SOME sense of order on the last day of school. I had parents asking for gift bags for the extra siblings they brought into the classroom, parents taking pictures, and, did I mention? Three freaking dogs in a baby carriage!! I am at a loss for words. This last week of school has been an absolute joke! We logged our required hours, but, man, oh man, were they wasted on filler.

I think it would be smart to “extend” the school year. Kids would think that they are getting out on certain date (let’s say June 15th) but really, a week before kids anticipate getting out, students would be greeted on the 8th or so (the real last day of school) with a, “surprise, it’s the last day of school!’. They wouldn’t have time to get all squirrelly, because they would have been fooled into thinking that they were in the second-to-last week, and, therefore, still held to a scholarly standard.

Then, life would be grand.