Kindergarten is so funny, especially in October. The other day I walked out to recess with my camera, something which happens once in a while and which is always exciting to the students because they know that the pictures sometimes make it into the yearbook. Students in the grammar school who have been with us for a while tend to cluster together for big group photos and–after a couple of reminders not to dab or make faces–the pictures usually turn out pretty well.
But it’s different with Kindergarteners in October. They’ve only been in school for eight weeks, and they are learning a lot every day. I’m in the classroom a few times a week, so they’re used to me, and they know that when I visit they should carry on with science, or phonics, or history–the things that are more important than the Headmaster of the school. Earlier this week I went out during Kindergarten recess for the first time, and most of them assumed that it was the same thing as it it is in the classroom–they should carry on with their business, and I would just watch.
Without saying anything I wandered over and sat on the bench in the playground. At first these little ones continued playing as usual, but after a while, someone came up to me to ask if I would take her picture, and I said yes, which made the other students realize that they could ask too. If they were first graders, or third graders, or any other students in the school, they’d pile themselves together with huge grins on their faces. But because school was all so new, and perhaps because picture day was fresh in their minds, without any instructions, they made a nice straight line on the playground for individual portraits instead. After all, lining up is second nature to them at this point in the year.
After I did ask them to get together for a group photo, here’s what we came up with.
Pretty good, little ones. As we say often in Kindergarten, a lot of learning still to do!
The Classical Classroom 
