What Is Kindergarten Really Like?

What are the first days and weeks of Kindergarten really like? And how can preschool parents prepare for those days in the near future? CPS Kindergarten teacher Chelsea Weisensel tells us all about that first coveted day of school - from the excitement to the exhaustion - in this video!

TRANSCRIPT

Dayna

Hey parents, it’s Dayna with CPS Success. We are just a few short days away from the start of the school year. The school supplies are flowing, the kids are excited and you can’t wait to get them out of your house!

I have with me today Chelsea Weisensel. She is a Kindergarten teacher at Hamilton Elementary with CPS. I’m so excited to have her here to tell us what the first days of school are really like. Welcome, Chelsea!

Chelsea

Hi, thank you for having me!

Dayna

So, Chelsea, you’ve been teaching for several years, a couple of them at CPS. Tell us more about that.

Chelsea

So this will be my seventh year teaching. I spent four years teaching in Joliet, taught Kindergarten for three years and one year in third grade. This will be my third year in Kindergarten at Hamilton and I absolutely love it.

Dayna

Awesome. So we are just a few short days away from that coveted first day of school. Parents who maybe who had their kids in preschool or even those who didn’t, we’re trying to figure out what is Kindergarten really like? How’s it different from preschool? We’re all super excited to have our kids finally in school, we understand it’s a big deal going into Kindergarten, and the emotions are running high. Chelsea, what is that first day of school really like?

Chelsea

So like you said, there’s a lot of excitement behind that day. And it’s important not to put too much excitement behind it because although you’re an adult and you can handle the nerves, sometimes the kids can’t. And they can’t tell you that they’re feeling nervous, and they can’t tell you that they’re anxious, but they’re feeling it.

So it’s important to not put too much emphasis on all of the matching backpacks and lunch bags and all of the cool supplies and all of those things.

Just really talk to your child: “How are you feeling? Are you excited? Are you nervous? Are you happy that you have some friends that you know in your class?” Just, “how are you feeling?”

Also remember that tears on the first day, second day, third day, first couple of weeks, are totally normal. And if that happens, it happens. You give them a hug, a kiss, tell them you love them, you’ve got it, they can do it…and WALK. AWAY. That’s the biggest thing. They’re going to be nervous, and if there are tears, you’ve got to walk away. Show them you love them, and move away. Because by having you stay, it’s going to probably make it worse.

So those are two big things that are anticipated.

Talk about what the day is going to look like for them. Talk about who’s dropping them off, what they might have packed for lunch, what they might have for snack, who’s picking them up… so that they know kind of what their day is going to look like. That’s going to help with some of the anxiety.

Those are just a few things. The first day is going to be a lot. There’s going to be nerves. The teacher’s nervous, too, don’t forget about that poor teacher! I get nervous! All the teachers going back to school in a couple weeks all have the same dreams about the first days of school, just like the kids do. Encourage the teacher, get to know the teacher.

Just be prepared for some nerves and excitement and let it naturally happen. Don’t put so much emphasis on those first few days.

Dayna

So as you get past those first nerves of the first few days of school, how do things continue and progress? You’ve got these kids, new to a classroom maybe for the first time, you’re starting to work with them one-on-one; what can parents expect the first few weeks of Kindergarten to look like?

Chelsea

So you can expect a very tired child! That’s the first thing. People think their children will have no problem transitioning because they were in a preschool or they were in some kind of structured form of daycare, or whatever it is.

Kindergarten is a new game. It’s a lot of kids in a school, in a classroom. It’s new faces, it’s new lunch schedules, everything is NEW. And so you will have a tired child.

And there’s a couple ways to help fight that. You’re not going to be able to solve that and give a big boost of energy, but you can help in a couple of ways.

Try to keep their routine of their day and their evening and their morning – everything – keep it synced up. Get up at the same time, follow the same routine, brush your teeth, get dressed, all of those simple things will really help. That’s one thing you can do.

We do a snack time in my classroom. Avoid sending junk. Try to aim for something with protein. Nothing sugar based. Something that’s going to help give them a little bit of a boost in the middle of the morning instead of something that’s going to be like a downer to them.

Also to show them that you see they’re in Kindergarten now - we say “you’re a grownup” in my class – you’re independent. Now that you’re in Kindergarten, you’ve got this. You can carry your own backpack, you can pack your own snack, you lay out your clothes the evening before.

All of those things will help in that being completely exhausted phase, when you’re showing them that they’ve got a buy-in here, that they are independent and they’ve got it.

So you’re going to see a tired Kindergartener. You’re going to see a teacher trying to build a community. That’s our hardest fete the first couple weeks. The curriculum and the academics and all of that will come, but the most important part is to get the children to trust you, you to trust the children, the parents to respect you and know that what you’re doing is eventually going to pay off and be something beautiful.

In those first couple of weeks, don’t expect the teacher to say, “come in, let’s have you volunteer every day!” Those first couple of weeks – even months – are for the teacher to build a community with the children. And to really get to know them and vice versa. So don’t expect to be in the classroom!

So that’s one thing. And again, stick to the routine, that will help. But you’re going to have a very, very tired Kindergartener, and that’s totally normal.

And there might be some curveballs in there where your child didn’t touch one thing in their lunch. I get this every single year. Somebody calls me, “Oh my gosh, my child’s going to starve to death!” What generally happens is that they’re either distracted by their new friends and they sit there and chit-chat (kind of like some of us adults do!) and that’s okay.

It just comes down to communicating with your child: These are the expectations at lunch.

And also another thing, if your child comes home and says, “I don’t have any friends.” Or “I didn’t do anything at school today.” Try to avoid those one-word questions: “How was school today?” “Good.”

It’s kind of an open-ended question. You could say, “If you could switch seats with anybody in your class, who would it be?” And really make it so that there’s a conversation started. “I would want to switch with so-and-so because…” Or “What word did you teacher say a lot today? When did she say it?” Things like that. “What was your favorite part of the day and why?” Try to avoid those simple, one-word answers. That’s how you’re going to dig information from your child, specifically.

The first couple weeks will be great, exciting, and exhausting!

Dayna

That sounds about what I remember! Those kids have so much energy but they really burn it off. You guys pack it in in Kindergarten, and passing out in the back of the car was not uncommon.

Chelsea

Same with the teachers, though! That’s the reality.

And it’s important to remember that when the school day is over, you’re probably not going to get much from them by the end of the day. They are wiped. And so are the teachers!

Dayna

Absolutely! So, Chelsea, some of these parents who are going to be watching this interview, their kids are not quite ready for Kindergarten. They’re not going to be starting this year, but they’re going to be starting in one or two years. What can parents who have young children now start to do and start to think about to help facilitate when they do get to Kindergarten?

Chelsea

So I think that the most important part of that is that you’re still dealing with a very young, young child. And that age group: 3, 4, 5, those are some really valuable times. Not the valuable time to sit down and give them a workbook, and work really, really hard on letters and numbers.

It’s a really great time to just teach your child to be an independent person, to love learning and to really cherish those last few moments that you get before they start school.

Because as soon as they start Kindergarten, the next time you see them off is when they go off to college. So it’s really important that you cherish those last few years that you have with them until they ‘start the big leagues’ I guess is what I say.

Remember that they’re little, and don’t push the academics on them so hard. Because I don’t want to get them when they get to Kindergarten hating reading already or thinking that they’re an awesome reader, when they’re really not a real reader, and they don’t really love it, they just have books memorized, and they don’t really love digging into a book.

If you want to work on academics, aim for the organic learning experience. Instead of getting out a workbook, maybe instead boil some spaghetti noodles and make letters with spaghetti noodles. Or sing songs. Or if you’re at the grocery store, pick up a box of Cheerios and have them read the letters in the Cheerios or any numbers they can find on the back.

I’m still a real big believer in reading at night with your child. I think that’s really, really important. But I wouldn’t force them to try to read the sight words fluently while you’re reading. Let them enjoy that time one-on-one with you.

We at Hamilton have a no-homework policy all the way up through third grade. We call it our PDF: Playtime, Family time and Down time. There’s a lot to be said, especially from that Kindergarten to third grade, but it’s even more important when you’re talking about a little child.

It breaks my heart to see kids working in workbooks and working on reading, writing, when there’s so many great, fun ways to do it. I would say go on Pinterest to parents that want to work on academic-based things and find some fun things you can do with your child, instead of just shoving it down their throat the boring way.

And the last, probably most important part, is that this is your chance to teach your child to be independent. To go and sit with playdough and write their name out by themselves. Get the playdough out, put the playdough away the correct way. Or if you want a snack, get the snack yourself. All those little things.

Because classroom sizes are getting bigger and bigger. And it really is wonderful when we have kids come in, and they are self-sufficient. They aren’t going to raise their hand every single day to have somebody help them open a bag of goldfish – they got it. And if they don’t know how to open it, they know how to ask a friend or to try to figure it out themselves. We call them ‘problem solvers’ in our classroom.

Aim for an independent child. How do you start zipping your jacket? How do you start dressing yourself?

All those little things are far, far more important than ‘can you read?’ or ‘can you write a full sentence?’ Let them have fun. They’re still little children.

Dayna

Totally agree, and I love that approach. I feel like as parents we get so much of the academics thrown at us. With testing and everything going on, and I know it’s harder for teachers too, everything’s just at this totally different pace. It’s so refreshing to hear that what’s really important is making these humans awesome in the long run.

Chelsea

Right. I’d rather someone leave my classroom an awesome person than the highest reader in the class. Because you’re going to get so much more out of being an awesome person than a fantastic reader.

Dayna

Awesome. Well thank you so much for your time today, Chelsea. You’ve really opened up a new world of thinking about Kindergarten. Thank you so much.

Chelsea

Awesome. Thank you!