Kindergarten is a 13-part children's documentary series which chronicles a year in the life of a real-life Kindergarten located in Upper Nyack (near Long Island) New York. Each episode which has a title and theme, is filmed unrehearsed and marks a milestone for the class of Jennifer Vaz Johnson, every elementary school child's dream teacher. There is, of course, the first day, the trip to the firehouse, the missing "Gingerbread" man, the acquisition of a hamster, a special spooky Halloween and joyous Christmas episode. And let's not forget the class garden outside and the "mystery" visitor who nibbled up the class's lettuce. And these are just some of the episodes. The thing that makes this documentary work so well is the encumbered clarity and spontaneity of each child's response (often hilarious) to an event or interaction with another student. Sometimes children are caught "red-handed" doing an alleged misdeed: there was the little African American boy who kicked or hit another student and then denied it, the young boy who disrupted class by talking out of turn, or the precious little tyke who snatched a crayon away from another student who then started to cry and make a big stink over it-- ("It was only a crayon", the girl responds in her defense.) Ms. Johnson has infinite patience for each child,never once raising her voice and showing the viewing audience how GREAT a teacher she is (and serving as a great example for new primary school teachers) There is a very special holiday episode where children learn to embrace other cultures and the true meaning of holiday season and how Christmas, Kwanza and Hannekuh are celebrated. This is unforgettable stuff and a truly one of a kind documentary. Interspersed are short animation sequences which serve to announce the show's theme or as narration.
Unfortunately, right now it is only being shown on HBO Family at 7:30 weekend mornings which is a very inconvenient time for both parents and children who may want to sleep late. Hopefully, it will be released on DVD as it would be a great tool to ease the anxiety of preschool children who have not entered the public school system to show them how much fun it can be. Every parent with a preschool age child should run out and buy this documentary as soon as it becomes available (which it isn't right now). Kudos to production executive Bruce Shaw and producer Karen Goodman for making such an innovative documentary. Oddly, a sequel of sorts aired on HBO and was made (not by the same producers) called "Planet Twelve", chronicling a year in the life of sixth graders.
Unfortunately, right now it is only being shown on HBO Family at 7:30 weekend mornings which is a very inconvenient time for both parents and children who may want to sleep late. Hopefully, it will be released on DVD as it would be a great tool to ease the anxiety of preschool children who have not entered the public school system to show them how much fun it can be. Every parent with a preschool age child should run out and buy this documentary as soon as it becomes available (which it isn't right now). Kudos to production executive Bruce Shaw and producer Karen Goodman for making such an innovative documentary. Oddly, a sequel of sorts aired on HBO and was made (not by the same producers) called "Planet Twelve", chronicling a year in the life of sixth graders.
