‘Welcome to Kindergarten! Look at my cool face shield!!! Maybe you’ll get an astronaut helmet too! Let’s learn a hand-washing song! Are you ready?’: Teacher urges ‘put trust in the gap’

“Dear Kindergarten Parent,

Let me help you understand what our babies are walking into…

Hi! Welcome to Kindergarten! I’m your teacher, I’m so happy you are in my class! Look at my cool face shield!!! Do I look like an astronaut? Maybe you’ll get an astronaut helmet too!

Oh, I know you’ll miss mama. This mama misses her babies, but GUESS WHAT… we get to see them again in just a little bit!!! Look! A new friend! Y’all are going to have so much fun at recess! It’s time to go inside now… give mama a HUGE squeeze; one you’ll feel in your heart all day until you see her after school!

It’s time to wash our hands then find our spots! Let’s learn a hand-washing song! Are you ready?

Now let’s learn our letters!! This is an A and it says ‘aaa.’ Can you say it? Do you hear it echo inside your face shield? Can you hear the sound you’re making?

It’s PE time. PE is so fun! You get to run and play with your friends! You will love it!

Oh, look! Our classroom got cleaned while we were away! Now we get to read our books! We will use our classroom library and ‘shop’ for books once a week! We will all get new books on Fridays and let our books we’ve had all week sit right here to get cleaned while we are away! Now, take the books you picked and choose a comfy smart spot! A smart spot is away from anyone you might like to talk to, that way we all get to read our books and look at the pictures without being distracted by our friends!

Parents, I could go on and on walking you through our day. You may or may not be able to tell where adjustments have been made in regards to COVID. The idea of ‘social distancing’ is not new in a Kindergarten classroom. In order for your baby to be successful in learning, and me successful in teaching, we have always picked ‘smart spots’ during learning times.

Teaching Kindergarteners is my passion and I can assure you there are teachers all around the world preparing their classrooms and hearts to completely adore 24 new babies as you read this. NEVER would we allow school to be fearful for them because of us. I wish we could take you through every single way we are preparing to protect your child (NOT just from COVID! We prepare to protect them every single year!), but we simply don’t have enough time.

Put trust in the gap. Give your child’s teacher grace. We will do the same for you!”