It's been a whole year since you left Kindergarten, but let's just be honest. It's been quite a year. As with nearly everything I had the intention of writing a blog to you about the amazing Mrs. Christman, but I didn't get to it until now. It seems like 100 years ago that you went to Kindergarten screening. It was such a fun experience. You were so excited to go to Kindergarten. I remember as we walked out of your screening I asked you, "Well...What do you think of Mrs. Christman?" You said, "I think I would like to have Mrs. Christmas as my teacher. She was really nice!" It was so funny to hear you call her Christmas and not Christman. It was even stranger because I always knew Mrs. Christman as Miss Weiss.
You loved Mrs. Christmas from the start!
I can't remember the year that Miss Weiss started at PVE. What I do remember is that that poor teacher was what we call a "late hire." What does that mean? Often it means they end up with a tough class, little time to prepare, and a room far away from their colleagues. Mrs. Christmas took this like a champ. She started out during difficult circumstances and handled it like a pro. I'm so grateful that Miss Weiss was able to stick it out so that she could be your first teacher!
It is always pretty strange to have your child be in the class of a colleague. I'm always afraid that other teachers won't be honest with me about your behavior or what happens in class. That fear was tempered pretty quickly because Mrs. Christman had to report to me pretty early on in the year that you were catapulting crayons with a classmate during center time in class. Thankfully there weren't many more reports like this and you mostly had good "colors." You loved to learn math and took right to reading.
What amazes me the most in this world is what Kindergarten teachers are able to teach children. Mrs. Christman took a squirly five-year-old (you) and taught him to read, write, add, and subtract. She also taught you to love learning, sit in a chair, work with a group, and count up past 100. She also had 19 other students in the room at the same time. This is so amazing to me because even though I teach 7-9-year-olds I can't even imagine teaching Kindergarten. Mrs. Christman did all of this with a huge smile and kind words.
Unfortunately for all of us, a pandemic hit at the end of your Kindergarten year. March 13, 2020, was your last day in the classroom until you were in first grade. Challenging doesn't even begin to describe how it all felt. Home-schooling was pretty awful. Within the first hour of "home-schooling", you accused your mother and a twenty-year teaching veteran of "not ever teaching any kids anything." Pretty sure I said some less than kind words during that time. What it all boiled down to was that I wasn't Mrs. Christmas. "Mom, this isn't how Mrs. Christman does it. I miss Mrs. Christman." That went right to my core. I've heard a quote that there is no substitute for a good teacher and sadly when it was time for me to be the sub I just didn't meet up to the expectations of a six-year-old student who had the rug completely pulled out from under him. I am grateful that I didn't meet the expecations of Mrs. Christman. It made me feel that much better about how great of a teacher she was.
Despite your school year ending with helping your mom load up Pete and Ginger while quickly taking down as much stuff as possible you managed to still be able to read, write, and do math relatively well. I will forever be grateful for Mrs. Christman for all she did to help you grow your kindergarten year and I'll always be a bit sad that you didn't get the 2.5 months of that year.
I'm so grateful I was able to snag this shot the LAST DAY of THIS year!
Benny and Mrs. Christman, aka, Mrs. Christmas.
Love you,
Mom
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