When Kaden Ludwig walked into his kindergarten room at Lincoln Elementary this morning, he found his teacher, Shelly Meadows, was as excited as he was about his first day at school. MEADOWS is in her eighth year with USD 257, which coincides with when the district changed from half- to full-day kindergarten. MEADOWS grew up in Fort Scott and graduated from Kansas State University, which led her to student-teach and then substitute in Manhattan schools.
“I love it that they’re so young and innocent and excited to learn,” Meadows said Wednesday afternoon as she put finishing touches on her room, which will be home to 20 students over the next nine months. “It’s amazing how much they grow that first year, how far they come.”
Kaden typified the excitement Meadows talked about.
Wednesday afternoon, east of Iola where he lives with his mother, Kourtenay Sherwood, and step-father, Jase Sherwood, Kaden was all smiles when asked about going to school for the first time.
“I’m not quite ready for him to grow up,” said Kourtenay, “but I’m excited about Kaden going to school, and so is he.”
She won’t suffer empty-nest syndrome as much as some mothers sending children off to school for the first time. Since October 2011, Kourtenay has worked as a paraprofessional, and currently helps with special needs children at Lincoln, which means she and Kaden will see each other at school.
Even so, Kourtenay likely had a tear in her eye as she watched him march from car to school for the first time this morning.
He may be a little more prepared than some of Sherwood’s students. He attended the Growing Place (child care center) in Humboldt and then a year of preschool there before being enrolled in the Iola district’s preschool last year.
Naturally enough, Kaden doesn’t know exactly what to expect in kindergarten, but allowed that he does like to do crafts.
And, “I like to play,” he said.
“I start out trying to make them feel comfortable,” with being in school all day and getting along with other students, Meadows said. “Usually all of them have been to preschool, which helps.”
Her approach is not to rush things, to be patient with children as they settle into their day-to-day routine.
“We start out with things as simple as how to walk down the hall,” Meadows said, “and how to do other ‘school’ things,” such as bathroom breaks and recess.
Education is the central theme, and that also is applied in a patient manner. By the time a student has completed kindergarten, he or she is expected to know letters of the alphabet and what each sounds like, including some long vowels.
“We do some addition and a little subtraction,” Meadows noted.
“I enjoy each child, no matter what they’re like,” she said. “They’re all unique and all have special talents.”
Meadows got her chance to mold young minds full time when she was selected one of seven kindergarten teachers in the Iola system, when the class was expanded from a half day to full. She has had as few as 16 students and as many as 22, and never encountered any problems because of numbers.
Her husband, Terry, teaches vocal music in Humboldt schools. They have two children, Thane, 10, a fifth-grader at Humboldt, and a daughter, Lakyn, 4.
Kaden eager for kindergarten
