KINDERGARTEN

Kids keep me inspired, but after many years working with them, it is the Kindergarteners who keep me coming back to schools to learn with them.

The photo above was taken just after several kindergarteners waded into the shallows of Indian Run Creek. Wearing those cute little lady bug boots and armed with tiny nets, several of them caught crayfish. Some even landed dazzling Rainbow Darters, some of the most beautiful fish on the planet. But the fish and "lobsters" weren't the prize that day.

If you look closely, you can see this young man proudly showing off his catch - a golf ball. He was so excited and well he should be. He found something he could take home. A treasure he will remember long after the thrill of scooping up a fish is forgotten.

I could fill the eworld with kstories. Here are a couple of my favorites.

When I first started working in schools, I'd often circle up the kids in the library and show some slides of animals I work with in the wild. At the time of a visit to an Olympia, Washington school, I'd just finished a book about geese. I told the kids about how some geese were super parents and some were not so great. In fact, some geese readily give up their kids to other adults.

One of the boys in the kindergarten class I was talking with stood up when I was finished and all the other kids turned to him and immediately became very quiet. Apparently, they were used to his presence. His story telling abilities. His command of the room. He very politely asked if he could share a story about a bird. It was an Australian myth about how the birds got their colors. Young Rem kept us, me especially, in awe as he wove the tale so well and so long I completely forgot I was listening to a five year old. He could just as well have been 85.

On completing his story, Rem was appointed to take me to another class to continue my day in the building. The other kindergarteners went back to their room and when we got into the hall, Rem shook my sleeve and asked me to stop.

He looked up and down the hall to make sure no one was in sight. "They don't know what to do with me here," he said, still looking up and down the hallway.

"They put me in fifth grade for math. Fourth grade is for social studies. Third grade I go to sometimes too."

He added that he was a kindergartener, so obsiously, he had to spend time in kindergarten.

Then, with a twinkle in his eye, Rem told me the greater truth of his situation, "What I really like is First Grade because I really like First Grade Girls!!!"


I met another genius last spring. Her name is Evelyn. I spent a little time with her and her classmates during a bit of a break during a day of field trips and in building celebration of Earth Day.

I do this thing with kids that is probably my most popular activity. It comes up at lots of moments, especially when we are making books together. I'll look at what they are writing about or listen to them as they trouble over an illustration. If asked to draw something, instead, I carve an eraser into a small stamp so they can use the image over and over. I sometimes get lumpy bumpy packages in the mail filled with an entire classroom, or even an entire school's worth of erasers awaiting carving into dolphins, dogs, and seahorses.

Evelyn watched that day as I started carving stamps for kids. Since it was spring, a lot of the kids wanted flowers. They're fun to carve and we were on a roll with enough flowers to make a nice wildflower illustration.

Evelyn kept watching and talking about possible stamps for her ideas. After much thought, she announced, "An olive. Olives are plants. I'd like an olive."

I carved her an olive, the first one I'd ever done. Not many kindergarteners, when given the choice of rubber stamps would give up the chance of having a penguin or tulip and go to the idea of an olive. But Evelyn wasn't finished thinking this over.

She stamped the olive, saw it was nice and politely offered it to a friend who gladly accepted it, saying the olive would look nice with her flowers.

Olive skrinkled up her face and scratched her head a bit before letting me know, "A jar of Olive Oil. That's what I want, a jar of Olive Oil!"

I've made, conservatively, 5,000 rubber stamps for kids and adults. The range of images is actually quite narrow and mostly includes fish, bears, horses, penguins, whales, dolphins.......I never had so much fun attempting to carve the details into a stamp. Evelyn coached me as we designed the label and foil for the cap. A jar of olive oil on a pink pearl eraser. Who'd imagine that. Evelyn.

You can read about Evelyn at my other blog site. She is the person responsible for asking me a list of questions that helped form much of our journey to Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in June 2009. She is the inspiration for Project Soar and made it possible to encourage people from around the world to send sand samples to me for close looks at plastics gone micro along our ocean shores.

I'm told by Evelyn's teachers that instead of walking straight down the halls of her school, she walks sideways. She scans the walls as she walks, taking in all information. I hope to work with her again in the near future and look forward to what wondrous things she does for the world.

Kindergarteners can always make me laugh. They can always come up with the goofiest stories. But I think we really need to listen to them closely so as not to miss those few out there with a lot to say, a lot to pay attention to. One thing is for sure. They are taking in so much more information than any of us could ever imagine. Since the little buggers are so new to the world, they might just find the ways to make it better.

If you have a kindergarten story, please add a comment here!