My little guy is in kindergarten this year, and the kindergarten classes at his parochial school have a tradition of choosing a different student each week to be the “Star Student of the Week”. The other students sing to the star, make him or her pictures and notes, and a parent or family member of the star is allowed to come in and read a book to the class and provide the class with treats.
My son was so excited to be the Star, and for me to visit his class and watch him work and play. I was looking forward to it too, and loved seeing the children dance around while learning a new letter and practicing writing while sprawled on the area rugs together. It was such a friendly, cozy environment, and the children all get along well and have fun learning.
His teacher announced him a final time the last day of the week and introduced me so I could read to the class. I read the class Tickle Monster and One Cool Friend. Both have been favorite books for both my sons, and Tickle Monster lets me tickle him while I read. The kids in the class giggled and cheered as I read, and it was clear they love the visit from the parents. After the story the children continued to work while he passed out treats.
This is such a great age for children, and I honestly think if I could do it all over, I would have loved to become a teacher for young grade school children. The idea of a new batch of cute little munchkins marching through my door to teach has to be the secret to eternal youth. They are so adorable and curious and silly… what a wonderful time!
The kindergarten teacher is a lovely woman who also happens to be my older son’s piano teacher. She uses humor to instruct and discipline, and a bell, which I think is a trick I’d love to try out 😉 Ring the bell, activity stops (sort of like a game of One-Two-Three-Freeze!). She only did this once while I was there, when a game of hand puppet among a few children turned into a puppet fight, and it worked like a charm… the children froze, laughed, and resumed playing and the offending hand puppets were quarantined.
I stayed until the end of the day, then escorted the Star Student of the Week out to start our weekend together ♥︎