Nurse Bates Visits Kindergarten

I love my job as a kindergarten teacher. Especially when we get to teach about fun things like community helpers! The kids are always eager to talk about what they know about doctors, mail carriers, and fire fighters. Each has a story about when the saw a police officer at the mall or a dentist at the gas station - if you want 20 of thse kinds of stories, my classroom is the place to be! : )

All of the kindergarteners at our school were surprised with a visit from a real, live community helper - my mom, Nurse Bates! (First of all, I must say that the kids were MOST impressed that she and I had the same last name - Miss Bates and Mrs. Bates. I really think it blew their little minds! They also struggled to comprehend how I (a fully grown teacher) could have a mom...)

My mom did a GREAT job teaching the kids about her job and how she helps people in the community. She let a few kids listen to her heartbeat and she showed them all of her cool tools. She did a fantastic job at fielding questions (more like loooong comments) from 150 little ones.

Funny story from our "community helpers" discussion - Before my mom arrived, my class was brainstorming ideas of jobs that help people in the community. We came up with some really, really good ones - cupcake makers, dirt bike fixers, and checkout people at Target - but one of my little boys' idea just took the cake. He raised his hand and said, "I already know that I want to be a community helper when I grow up. I want to be a potion maker that heals the world." I paused before saying, "Tell me more about this job! Where do world-healing potion makers work?" My little friend said, "You know - at Walgreens or CVS - with all of the potions...". Aha - a lightbulb went off in my head! "Of course," I said, "You want to be a pharmacist!" : )

There are some days that I just really love my job!