Teaching Kindergartenders at Spring Valley

Kindergartenders have the most curious minds. They also have a short attention span but love to raise their hand to volunteer answers. They do not hesitate and share everything from their favorite color to the last time they got sick. Somewhere along the line as we grow older, we lose the enthusiasm we had as a child. In my classes, the majority now hesitate to raise their hand whenever a question is asked.

This past week, I along with two of my classmates taught two germ and nutrition lessons at Ms.Boylan's and Ms. Andrade's kindergarten class. By far, the most challenging task is to simplify overwhelmingly complex science concepts into simple, plain grade level language. But this is great practice for a pharmacy student because oftentimes, we are required to translate complicated medical terms into simple layman's terms for a patient. Sometimes I find myself slipping but I learned not to underestimate these kindergartenders. One child told me a virus looked like a 'hexagon' and I found myself trying to recall how many sides a hexagon had. They also have an amazing memory being able to recall what they learned and did last week. I sometimes have trouble recalling what I did yesterday.

Kids are amazing and I find myself wishing I had never grown up. It's nice to be curious, carefree and accepting of people despite their racial differences.