I was told this story from another teacher a month or so ago, but it popped into my head recently so I thought I’d share cause it’s cute. One day in the kindergarten class I usually teach art to, two boys were wearing superhero shirts. One of them was wearing a Superman shirt, and the other a Batman one. The teacher then asked the boys, “Which superhero is cooler?” The boy with the Superman shirt replied quickly, “Superman is cooler!” The other boy looked at the teacher for a moment and said, “Well Mr. V likes Batman…so he’s way cooler!” Clearly I’m educating these children properly…lol.

I love half days. Sadly, we only get one true half day all year, and today is it. On others, teachers have to stay for professional development or conferences or any number of things. Kids always seem to have more energy on half days too, especially before a holiday.

My group of kindergarteners today were so cute. They always crack me up. We were playing a rhyming memory game when all of a sudden one of the girls says to me, “You look strong. I can see your muscles.” I laughed out loud at that one. Then when they were leaving, I wished them all a Happy Thanksgiving and one boy asked me, “Can I give you a hug before I go back to class?” At this they all joined in with, “Me too. Me too.” So funny.

Today I’m in one of my kindergarten classes and I overhear a common phrase that sometimes wafts through the air during classroom banter: “Don’t say that, that’s a bad word.” Normally this ends right away when I glance over and give “the eye” to the two who are about to engage in the “yes it is/no it isn’t” dialogue. Before I could send over that non-verbal warning, I hear the voice of a third party interjecting, “No it’s not, there are no bad words.” Being the anti-censorship George Carlin fan that I am, this caught my interest, so I hold back the discipline to listen for a moment. He continues, “There aren’t any bad words. There’s only words you use bad and mean.” Of course it’s lacking grammar, but he implied his understanding of the point he was making. At this point, the students notice me looming over them and glance up at me awaiting my response to the events that just took place. “He’s right,” I said. “(student name here), where did you learn that?”. He looks at me proudly and answers, “My mom taught me.”

I was shocked that a child in kindergarten could understand the concept enough to apply it in an actual conversation. It’s even more amazing to me that so few people seem to get this. Even if he didn’t really understand what he was saying and was simply responding as programmed, someday he will get it. Maybe he’ll be able to teach the people around him the same thing.