What does a 5-year-old think an 18-year-old does all day? What does a senior think about the day of a kindergartner?
As seniors on a K-12 campus, we often reminisce about our elementary school years after walking past a group of kindergarteners in the hallway or cafeteria, wishing to be back in their shoes. But what is it truly like to be in their shoes? After 12 years, the gap between our memories and their reality may be surprisingly wide.
To investigate this with kindergarteners directly, we asked both Sylvia LeMon and Katie Wilde’s Haldane kindergarten classes about their experience in school and what they imagine a senior’s school day is like.
Haldane seniors Amelia Alayon, Jack Illian, Brendan Shanahan, and Claire Bolte were asked the same questions, but from a perspective of having been through both high school and kindergarten.
Below is a comparison of their responses. (Kindergartener Answers / Senior Answers)
What do kindergarteners struggle with?
“Learn about hard words, like ‘the.'”
“Making words… but we learned how to do them so great!”
“Writing and reading, like you see their spelling sometimes… Oh man! R’s backwards and everything…” -Brendan S
“The challenge of leaving your parents… there’s a lot of new experiences.” -Amelia A
What do kindergarteners do during the school day?
“We learn about shapes.”
“Did you know we actually use those things over there? [Referring to the iPads]”
“Play kitchen. No, writing and reading…I remember [that] learning how to spell was a really big thing.” -Amelia A
What are you most excited for when you are a senior? / What do you love most about being a senior?
“We get to have phones.”
“Learn[ing] science.”
“Drive a car.”
“I would like to go on an airplane and go to high school!”
“I enjoy having a lot more freedom and the free periods we get…” -Claire B
What do seniors struggle with?
“Spelling big ginormous words.”
“Counting to sixty.”
“Calculus definitely, because of the workload.” -Jack I
What do seniors do during the school day?
“I think you learn about math.”
“Hard math… [like] 80 hundred times 80 hundred… [and] 80 hundred 40 dollars.”
“I learn about math, history, science, and English.” -Brendan S
“Psychology” -Claire B
What is your favorite part of kindergarten? / What do you miss most about kindergarten?
“Centers; it’s like when we play with the toys.”
“I like art!”
“Math Stations.”
“PE… [We play] color tag… hot potato… and freeze tag.”
“OT [occupational therapy].”
“I think [I miss] being in the classroom, playing with friends and coloring.” -Claire B
“Play kitchen during school … with all my friends was the best thing ever.” -Amelia A
No matter the age, it’s clear that students love unstructured time. Whether in the form of senior privilege periods or centers, the moments where students get to have control are incredibly important to them.
It’s easy to feel powerless as a kid in any grade at school, as they struggle with topics ranging from shapes to calculus, phonics to literature. So, despite a hill and 12 years of age separating them, maybe seniors and kindergarteners aren’t as different as one might think.
