September/October 2007

School Rules

Larchmont Kindergarteners prove that their first formal year of education isn't all fun and games.

By Jessica Carlson

Kindergarten, from what I remember, was a great year for me. i sat in many circles, played house regularly, ate Fruit Roll-Ups and did a lot of cartwheels. I also refused to wear pants, clean up, use zippers and talk to boys.

Thankfully, I've learned a lot since my first formal year of education and have acquired a taste for pants, zippers and boys quite nicely. Clean up time—not so much.

Regardless, you can imagine my excitement to relive my feelings of worry-free bliss and spend all day doing what all 5- and 6-year-olds in Hampton Roads do every day—play games and eat snacks. Or so I thought ...

The Morning Bell

I arrive at Larchmont Elementary in Norfolk around 8:10 a.m., maneuvering around school buses and mini-vans in the parking lot. The school is an impressive brick building with tall doorways and cathedral-like architecture. Built in 1929, Larchmont is one of the oldest schools in Norfolk's public school system.

Three lines of students extend from a mammoth doorway on one side of the building. As I approach, I meet Mrs. Holloman—my kindergarten teacher for the day. She is exactly what you would expect a kindergarten teacher to be: kind, patient and smiling.

She introduces me to a few of her students, and I squeeze a place in line. Behind me, a messy-haired boy balances his backpack precariously on his head. In front of me, two girls chat about their weekend plans.

"So, when do we go inside?" I ask the girls, interrupting a quite sophisticated conversation about a cousin's birthday party. They inform me that we have to wait for the bell to ring.

When it does, the throngs of children outside squeeze through the door and scatter about to their respective classrooms. I follow my new kindergarten friends to a corner classroom at the end of a long hallway.

"At first our parents took us to the room." one girl says. "But then we learned."

It seems that they have learned a lot since the beginning of the year—the classroom resembles a bustling and productive office with students walking in briskly, hanging up their coats, unpacking their backpacks, turning in their homework, and sitting down at their table without a wayward movement.

I write down my first reflection of the day in my notebook:

8:20 a.m.: Was I this smart in kindergarten?

Reading, Writing and More Reading

Sometime in the next two hours, I begin to realize that the answer to the above question is an emphatic "No." At age 5, I was making shapes out of rubber bands, building Lego houses and baking pretend cupcakes. These Larchmont kindergartners spend their school days actually reading, writing, adding and subtracting—and having fun while doing so.

Before class can begin, we fulfill our patriotic duties by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, singing as many words as we can remember from "You're a Grand Old Flag," and observing a moment of silence. It is nearly 8:30 a.m. when Mrs. Holloman invites us to the rug for shared reading time. The children read aloud as she points to each word.

While we read, two kindergartners make their way to a computer desk in the back of the classroom. Each student takes turns playing reading and spelling games throughout the day, and while most sit quietly wearing their oversized earphones, some just cannot contain the excitement of learning how to spell a new word.

"Kitchen Sink!!" one boy exclaims loudly during a group reading. I nearly fall off of my chair. My classmates seem unfazed and continue reading.

We will read or write in some capacity for the next two hours, rotating through a series of stations set up throughout the classroom. Some read books quietly on their own, some practice writing on a chalkboard, and some listen to books on tape. I opt for the most popular activity, which entails cutting out a picture from a magazine, taping it on a piece of paper and writing about it.

All along, children at the computer continue their excited outbursts. "Penny loafers!" "Pecan pie!" "Buck tooth!"

While the students keep on reading, writing, spelling or listening, I just can't help laughing.

10:15 a.m.: I wonder when it's playtime?

For the rest of this article, see the September/October issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.