It was September 1975 and this little, dirty blond haired girl was super excited to go to a big school just like her older brother and sister. Just writing that year makes me feel a little ancient, however, it is what it is. A mere 39 years ago. Haha!
I went to kindergarten in the afternoon. The option was either morning or afternoon as it was only a half day schedule. I remember my teacher vividly. Her name was Mrs. Segal and she was Indian. In my small world, I hadn’t seen anyone dress in a sari, so that was different. She wore a sari every day. She was always very pleasant and I loved her. We probably had about twenty students in our class, so it was a busy place.
I remember we learned the alphabet and numbers, played with wooden blocks, colored papers and did finger painting (which was pure joy!) How’s that compare to today’s standards? Haha. (Side note: As a longtime homeschooler, I’ve read many articles about early childhood learning. There’s such a push for kids to learn things early and from what I’ve read along with my personal beliefs, the final educational outcome is not based on when the child learned a particular skill. I think I turned out pretty okay after all.)
One of the highlights of being a kindergartener was being selected to go to the cafeteria with a wooden wagon to fetch the milk for lunch time. We went two by two’s, one girl and one boy. Of course, the thrill was being the one who got to pull the wagon. 🙂 I always chose chocolate milk for lunch as it was my favorite.
My bus was the orange triangle. That’s how I knew which bus to get on when school let out. Isn’t that funny that I remember that after all these years? I actually hadn’t thought of that until just now. There was also the yellow circle, blue square and the purple star, but those buses led to other neighborhoods and I would surely be lost. Simply riding the bus, though, was a big treat for such a little girl.
I’m sure I had a best friend in my class, although I don’t recall that little detail. From day one, I’ve been a social butterfly, so I likely had a number of friends. I just liked to talk …
Kindergarten was such a fun experience for me! Life was carefree and full of learning more about the world around me. I think it helped pique my curiosity about life and learning. After all, isn’t that a building block of a solid education?
englishrose2014 