Kindergarten Teacher for President!

      I love teachers.  I think they could run the country and change the world!  I also love to volunteer at school....especially in Kindergarten.  There is something magical about how a Kindergarten teacher can take approximately 25 kids from all backgrounds, religions, morals and values and teach and mold them into a responsible (for the most part) "team machine".  It is AMAZING to see!  After my last few days in my youngest's classroom, I have decided that a Kindergarten teacher should be President of the US.  Seriously..........I watched my son's morning and thought how it could better our government and country. 

Kindergarten:  Kids come to class and know exactly what to do.  There are expectations set firmly in place.  Kids turn in their folders, hang up their backpacks and sit quietly at their desks doing their morning work until the bell rings at which point they get the school news update, lunch menu and any other important info for their day.  They then recite the Pledge of Allegiance.....all while listening quietly, hand over their heart and standing at attention because they have been taught how important it is. The teacher calls them to her "rug".  There is a "good morning circle" where they tell each other good morning and then a "compliment circle" where they compliment the person on their left and their right.  The teacher then goes over the morning.  Any questions?  Get to it.  They go to "centers".....math, art, book nook, puzzles, listening center, reading, etc....and that is just the morning.

Kindergarten Teacher as President:  She/He would come to the Oval Office and would have previously taught the Congress, Senate, House and any and all other people in the White House exactly what they are to do upon their arrival.  They would each know what is expected from them and would just do it.  No exceptions.  They would turn in their "folders" of work from the previous day, hang up their laptop bags and sit quietly at their desks working on their morning work until the bell rings.  The President would then give the news update, lunch menu and other important info for their day.  They would then recite the Pledge of Allegiance, standing at attention, hand on their heart like they love this country more than life itself.  The President would then call them all on the "carpet" where they would form a huge "good morning circle".  They would have to know each other's name and they would give a heartfelt good morning all around.  Next would be the "compliment circle"....to the left and the right.  No back stabbing, no gossip, no unfair trading, just compliments.  The President would then go over the plan for the day and tell them to get to it - with high expectations - no whining, griping, no "I don't want to".....just "get to it" while reminding them of the "3 B's":  do NOT interrupt the President unless they are 1)Bleeding  2)Barfing or 3)Bathroom Emergency.  "Workers" would then disperse and go to "centers".  I can only imagine what they would learn!  There would be a center for:

* "Math": learning how to treat money - not stealing or stashing money away but how to treat it as well as how to allow the American people to keep as much as possible of what they earn.  Learning percentages would be a biggie - taxes.....this would be an entire math unit in itself.  I think the volunteer at this particular center would be Dave Ramsey. 

* "Book Nook":  one would be required to read up on the "Declaration of Independence" and the "Constitution".  They would need to know this backward and forward - no deviations.  There would be a test.

* "Listening Center":  learning how to listen to the people that make up the United States of America...what they need, what they want and how to better this great nation. 

* "Puzzles":  learning how to solve issues of the day.....how to work together to fit all the pieces where the entire country would benefit. 
* "Housekeeping": learning how to stay faithful to your spouse, not letting work get in the way of family and getting your priorities in order.  Learning about honesty and truth and all those other important "words".

I'm sure there would be others.......And this is just the morning!  We could go through the whole day but you get the point.  My son's school has "Character Education".  I "taught" the class on "Responsibility" yesterday.  I would be willing to do that for the President.  I would bring my stuffed Buzz Lightyear, 25 packs of Toy Story 3 gummies, my "notes" and a cute story about a kindergartener being responsible.  I think those "government" people might listen for a bag of gummies - maybe.

I love Robert Fulghum's "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned In Kindergarten".  How TRUE this is!



All I Ever Really Needed to Know

I Learned in Kindergarten

- by Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.  These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life.
• Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder.
• Remember the little seed in the plastic cup.  The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die.
• So do we.
• And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK .
• Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
• The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

So as soon as a teacher puts in for the President position - I am ALL in!

Here's to learning the "good stuff" today,
k