A Letter to Ella's Kindergarten Teacher

**This post was adapted from Pudge and Biggie…again, because she is brilliant. **

Dear Madame,

We are so looking forward to this school year. Even after one day, I know that Ella is going to love being in your class…But there are some things I feel it would be helpful for you to know about Ella and some things that I must ask of you.

1. Ella calls her brother “stop-it”…yes, you heard that right. His actual name is Jakob.

2. Ella is left-handed. This will be very obvious in a short amount of time.

3. Ella will often just say poo-poo if she needs to go potty…it does not necessarily mean she needs to poo, however.

4. Ella will wander…far away. Please make sure someone is watching her at all times.

5. Ella does not like loud, crowded and/or dark places. Her exit strategy is to ask to go to the bathroom…possibly, incessantly and will get very clingy. Once she is finished with the bathroom however, it is good to keep her in the situation. She deserves to be a part of it just like any other child.

Despite her challenges…

Please claim her as your student. She’s on your roster. I’ve told her she’s in YOUR class. We practice YOUR name daily. Please claim her as your own. Please be the one in charge of what she does with her aide. Please know exactly what she’s working on. Please have the ultimate say in how her instructional time is being spent. Please don’t take advantage of the opportunities to pass her off as someone else’s responsibility, because the opportunities will be numerous. Please remember when she’s asked to name her teacher it will be your name she says. Please be just as quick to say her name when you’re asked who she belongs to.

Please help her with her yogourt cup.

Please don’t accept cute as currency. Please don’t let a grin and a hug get her out of doing what is hard. Please remind her that disobeying as you smile and giggle over your shoulder is still disobeying and still earns a consequence.

Please let her fall down. Please let her mess up. Please let her experience the natural consequences of disappointing a friend with her behaviour. Please step in quickly to help her fix her mistakes, but please let a friend’s rejection teach her more lessons than an adult’s reprimand.

Please help her when I choose fashion over function and forget the cardinal rule of Kindergarten, “Don’t Send the Child in Pants From Which They Cannot Quickly Escape”.

Please, when she churns out work that is crap…call it crap. Please let her own her failures so she can own her progress and successes, too.

Please wait…a long time…without talking…after you ask her a question. Please give her time after you talk to her so she knows that hearing her voice is worth the wait.

Please let her run amuck at recess. Please let her cheat death on the equipment the same way her friends do and remember she isn’t easily broken.

Please be patient with her mom. I may be pushy, overly inquisitive and a tad too assertive but please know I want to be your collaborative partner and your biggest fan and forgive any fumbles I make along the way.

Please let her know you believe in her.

Please never forget she believes in you.

Please tell me if she’s running low on extra changes of pants or friends so I can respond accordingly.

Please remember to call me if you should ever need anything at all.

Wishing you a very merry school year…