Kindergarten: First & Last Day

I. First Day

On my first day of Kindergarten, two teaching assistants showed my class where the bathrooms were. The girls and boys were divided into two lines, with the boys in one line, and the girls in the other. We practiced waiting in line for our respective bathrooms.

My best friend Sam was in line with the boys, and I joined him while we waited our turn. We were somewhere in the middle of the line and, because we were five years old, we dropped our pants at the same time in the middle of the boys' bathroom, because we didn't know yet that that's supposed to happen after you enter the bathroom stall.

Sam and I pointed at each other at the exact same time in shock and awe.

What's THAT? I said while still pointing at him. What IS that????

It's my pee-pee! Sam said, dumbfounded and completely confused. Where's yours???

While we were gaping at each other's bodies, the teaching assistant in charge of the boys' bathroom came into the bathroom, probably wondering what the hold up was.

ALISON!!!! She said, clearly horrified. This is the BOYS' room!!!!

I was dragged by one arm to the girls' bathroom, which was boring because Sam wasn't there.

This was NOT a promising start to my formal education.

II. Last Day

On my last day of Kindergarten, my teacher held a parent-teacher conference in my classroom with my parents there. She told them that because I had been the last person in my class to learn how to spell my name, she was wondering if I should stay back and repeat Kindergarten.

My parents had not known this and were concerned. I thought - wait, I know how to spell my name! I had known how to do that for a while, I just hadn't done it because I hadn't felt like it. Whenever we were having our spelling lesson I was spacing out and daydreaming about the swings and the toys I would play with after spelling.

It had not occurred to me that being able to spell my first name was required to enter first grade. I didn't realize I was being "judged" and "graded" for "school work."

There was a piece of paper on the table and some crayons. I put the paper in front of me and spelled my name - A L I S O N - without much effort, if a little shaky and slanted.

That's how I "passed" Kindergarten. It was only on the last day that I learned that I had to "show" what I had learned, which is how school systems work, and I think I even got time on the swings after I had passed.