Inside Miss Parks' Kindergarten Classroom

     Miss Parks was my kindergarten teacher, small and pretty like my mother. She sat us on the floor around her, saying aloud our names and handing us each a paper crown with our name printed in big large black letters on the front. We wore these every day and stored them in our cubbies when we went home. We drew pictures on rough yellow paper with new crayons, painted with thick, bright, primary colored tempera while standing at little wooden easels, and sang songs while Miss Parks played the piano. Kindergarten was full of fun things to do. It was going to be nooooo problem.

     On our first day around mid-morning, we stopped and had a snack with a small carton of milk. Miss Parks then opened a door to the adjoining room. It was a big room with no tables. We could play games and dance in this room without bumping into anything. What would we be doing now?

    And then Miss Parks began to pull up the top window shade and pull down the bottom one. One after another on each of the four eight foot high divided windows, dimming the sunlight and quieting the children.

     “All right everyone,” she said softly.  “We’ve done so much this morning, it’s time to get your blanket from the cubbie and find a place to spread it out and lie down. It’s naptime.”  

     “Who needs help?” she asked.

     I froze in place. Naptime?

     What!        Now?

     Right in the middle of this great day? Lie down and nap? Are you kidding?

     I don’t need help. I’m not tired.

     Oh, no. Everyone is fixing a blanket.

     “Is there a problem?” the teacher asked.

     I looked around. She was looking at me.

     I hesitated, but I was the only one who did.

     “No,” I finally thought. “There’s no problem,” and I quietly walked over to get my own blanket from behind the cubbie door and then carefully stretched it out on the hard wood floor while I could still find a space near someone I knew.

     It didn’t take long to learn that nap time signaled the ending of the day. Once all the blankets were neatly stored back in the cupboard quiet storybook time began, and then it was time to go home --just in time for lunch.

     Half day kindergarten was really too short a day for me, but, with the exception of the unexpected nap time, there was no question that I was going to love school.

     It was really all going to be nooo problem. 


(c) Copyright 2016 Malvena Baxter