What Will I Learn in Kindergarten?

The response to Guest Blogger Alica Jannarone Price's blog on Kindergarten Readiness was that this information was right on time. Parents of children who will be beginning Kindergarten in the Fall were grateful for the checklist and the wonderful books that Alicia suggested they read with their children. When Alicia was teaching Kindergarten, she established a tradition of sharing the following piece written by Robert Fulghum with her student's parents on the first day of school.  

Robert Fulghum's simple short essay was part of the collection,  "Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things", published in 1988. This popular book stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nearly two years. Simple and straightforward, it laid out an important set of values to impart not just to young children but for everyone.

“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"

By Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need

To know about how to live

And what to do

And how to be 

I learned in Kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top 

of the graduate school mountain,

But there in the sandpile at school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life-

Learn some and think some

And draw and paint and sing and dance

and play every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world,

Watch out for traffic,

Hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.