Mother held my hand as we entered the front doors. Everything smelled fresh and clean. The Kindergarten room was off to the right, separated from the other classrooms by a wide hall. As we entered, Miss Clark, my teacher stood in the center of the room. Lots of other boys and girls in new clothes were mingling around her and cautiously looking over the room.
At first I wasn’t sure about Miss Clark. Her tall, thin frame and straight black hair severely pulled back into a bun, made her plain face seem unfriendly. But then she spoke, “Welcome Donnalyn. I know you will love kindergarten.” she said as she pinned a name tag onto my dress. Her soft, kind voice assuaged my fears.
I kissed my mother good bye and felt just a twinge of fear. I quickly glanced out the windows to see if I could still see her. As I approached the rounded window area I saw the most comforting sight. There at the base of the windows was a child’s height, long, padded window seat, curving to fit the glass. Sunlight created patterns on the cushions and warmed the area. Next to it were books, lots of books and I so wanted to just sit there on the window seat and read. Kindergarten was a safe and wonderful place!
A bell rang signaling the teacher to begin class. She showed us to long tables with chairs just our size. I sat near the end because I didn’t know any of the other children. I looked at their somber faces wondering if any of them would be my friend. Miss Clark took roll and called all of our names. I listened carefully for my name because I wanted to do everything exactly right. She gave each of us a paper with some shapes on it and a red crayon. She told us to circle the objects that were alike. I looked it over and immediately knew which were alike and carefully circled each one. I printed my name with pride on my paper and gave it to her. She smiled and said, “Good work, Donnalyn.” The warm, pleased feeling I received when she acknowledged my work was just the beginning of a lifelong desire to always want to do my best.
After a busy morning, Miss Clark said, “All right boys and girls we are going to have some milk and cookies and then it will be recess time.” After finishing our snack, children started going out the side doors into a play area but I was sure that “recess” meant that kindergarten was over so I headed out the main door to find my mother. Mom wasn’t there and I was scared, really scared. Just at that moment, Miss Clark gently took me by the hand and explained it was play time. My face got red and I began to cry. I wanted so badly to do everything right and now I had failed. Miss Clark assured me it was fine.
I wasn’t too anxious to go outside. Being brought up in mom’s beauty shop, I didn’t know how to talk and play with other children. Soon a little girl with curls like mine said “Hi, I’m Barbara.” I smiled back and our friendship began. She was shy too, so we felt comfortable with each other.
From that day on, I loved school. Even to this day, I love taking classes and of course pleasing the teacher and doing my best!