After a week away for Spring Break, I know many might have been wary of the return to routine and responsibilities. It is tempting to feel forlorn with the end of a vacation and return to normalcy. But, I don’t find this applicable at Bixby, where people and time are something special, something to value.
Monday morning we all returned and I watched as the Kindergartners came into the classroom with smiles on their faces, a skip in their step, and the immediate need to find their friends and share stories with one another. The ability of five and six year old children to not only tell of their own experiences, but be ready and willing to hear of others is not often found. I found myself getting a bit sentimental as I thought of their social and emotional growth over this school year (which has flown by).
The class has been beyond welcoming to class-mates, visitors, and new-combers in an inspiring and encouraging manner. Bixby’s community, structure and values work together to create and maintain a respectful and empathetic dynamic. This plays out in and outside of the classroom. Their patience with one another has grown, as has their patience with themselves. They speak their mind-being aware of and communicative about their feelings, but in quite a mindful manner, working to consider the perspective of their peers. As we work together to remember these values and put them into practice, I also find the K’s reminding me of the joy we can find in each day.
The Kindergarten class is excited by each and every one of our bananas Colorado weather changes. Snow. Springtime sunshine. Snow again. And again. Our most recent two walks to and from Bridgewalk Pond brought a sudden and serious wind. Which the kids enjoyed walking into…in slow-motion, of course. Rain began to fall this Monday and the kids embraced it. Not with shrieks or mayhem, but with smiles and hands outstretched to catch it as we walked back toward Bixby. Raindrops falling in the pond, circles expanding, ducks wading. Every day their openness to experience what that day has to offer reminds me to do the same.
Lexie