A small parade of thirteen kindergarten children walked single-file down the right-hand side of the hallway to the elementary school office. Their teacher was last in line. When the parade pooled around the office door, a child in the middle knocked on the door. The door held a large glass panel and the children could see their school secretary rise from her desk area, walk to the door, open it, and stand before them.
The teacher quietly said, “One, two, three…” and her class of tykes sang Happy Birthday to their school secretary who beamed through the first singing and the teacher’s “Now, let’s do that again”.
There were tears and laughter and a heart-felt “Thank you!”. And, smiles on every face.
As their kindergarten education concludes in this year of pandemic, each child in this particular class will have succeeded in reaching the teacher’s goals for reading and language acquisition, counting and beginning numeracy skills, and writing words and small sentences on paper. Each will have begun a K-5 thread of investigations into plants and animals; family, neighborhoods, and community; the sun and moon, and stars; and, will have filled page after page with drawings, and pictures, and words – enough to cover the refrigerator at home for years to come. Within the teacher’s play-based curriculum, each will have advanced in a skill set of cooperating with others, following rules, and childhood problem-solving. And, learning how to learn.
The smile and tears a singing of “Happy Birthday” brought to their school secretary was just one more example of the full monty of kindergarten education that their teacher causes for her children every school year. She also teaches children they are never alone in their school. There are many adults who care for and about them everyday. Everyone matters in the education of these children. Singing Happy Birthday was just one moment of caring for each other.
This teacher is the full monty. We are fortunate in our school to have many teachers who are the full monty.