Chapter 2: We’re All a Family Under One Sky: Welcoming the Youngest Learners to School

“These kids are little people!” I said with a surprised tone during a conversation I had with Suzanne Carothers, my student-teacher supervisor. We were sitting on the floor outside the classroom in which I was student teaching at The Children’s Workshop School (CWS). The year was 2001. It was my “ah ha” moment regarding early childhood. Even after teaching Pre-Kindergarten for so many years, I still go back to that moment. It has become an important reminder/belief in my teaching and classroom community. It has defined one of my main goals for my students and that is to help them become independent and respectful individuals—citizens who understand and try to work together as a team, family, and community to promote the common good that can bring out the best in everyone. Even at four-years of age, I believe that such thoughts can be actualized. And it is through my work as a teacher that I am committed to making it happen.