Since I’m not doing the school newsletter any more I figured I ought to volunteer for something at the kids’ school because, you know, an extra supply of brownie points never hurts. Not wanting to overextend myself, I chose to do this lunchtime enrichment thing where, during the cold winter months, parents run small activity groups as an alternative to the post-lunch recess. Half an hour a week for six weeks? Sure, I can do that! Typical activities are arts & crafts, board games, science, origami, knitting, yoga… whatever parents are interested in. Well, you know what I’m interested in — I offered to do “quiet reading.” Ha ha! Nine fourth-grade girls (including Lena, of course) signed up.
Category Archives: School
Humility
This morning Lena was talking about studying phonics in school. They were supposed to figure out the beginning and ending sounds of words. “And you know what, Mom?” she said proudly. “There was something that only Miss Smith and I knew, out of the whole class!”
More on the fabulous teacher
Ok, so this is fourth grade. Today for homework they had to read a short story called “Planting Things.” It was about the old man who loves to garden. “Mr. Willis was not a practical gardener, so it did not matter to him whether or not he could eat what he grew, or even if what he planted grew badly or not at all. Mr. Willis just enjoyed planting things.” His wife is ill, and has lost her zest for life, but he cares for her tenderly at home. One of the plants on his porch is a Swedish ivy, and it is a wonderfully hardy, healthy plant. One day he discovers that a robin has built a nest in the ivy plant. (“He was glad he was on good terms with God, in case it should be a sign to him!”) He is amazed and delighted, and tries to persuade his wife to get out of bed and come to the porch to see the nest with its eggs. She is pleased to hear about it, but too tired to get out of bed to see it. All summer long, Mr. Willis watches over the birds and the eggs. At one point Mrs. Willis does get out of bed to see the nest. Watching the eggs, Mr. Willis remembers what it was like when he and his wife were expecting their child. “The world had slowed down for them, and the days had been long and full of conversation.” Fall comes, the baby birds fly away, and Mr. Willis carefully removes the nest. In the spring he will put the nest in his apple tree because he is a man who enjoys planting things.
Hope in a hopeless world
Curriculum Night at our elementary school:
Joey’s 4th grade teacher is amazing! She asked us if it was okay to give him enrichment math to do in class! (Last year I had to beg and beg the teacher to give him extra math just to do at home.) She told us the whole class was extremely well-behaved, and although it’s true they are overall a pretty good group of kids, if they are “extremely well-behaved” it’s because she is On Top Of Things. And this is only her second year of teaching. And to quote from the note Joey left for us: “Uh… my favorite thing to do here is… WRITE!!! My least favorite thing to do here is… uh… nothing! Mrs. C. is AWESOME!!!” She was funny, too. Part of their upcoming science unit (animal behavior) involves having mealworms in the classroom. She didn’t actually shudder when she talked about them, but you could see she was trying hard not to. With the kids, she acts like it’s a special privilege to be allowed to take care of them. That way she never has to get too close to them herself.
Update on the little girl
Thanks for all your kind comments on the last post.
It’s interesting that Laura commented that her first year of teaching was probably her best. I just can’t resist the notion that even the best intentions in the world can’t make up for experience. Today Lena told me that Miss Smith warned the class that if they got three checkmarks on the board (for bad behavior) she would cancel recess. But when the third check came, she said that if they got one more, there would be no recess. First, cancelling recess for the whole class is a baaaaad idea, in my opinion. These kids need recess! But second, and worse, she should not have changed her mind. What do you think? Other teachers out there, what was your first year like? My husband’s first year, teaching in a charter school in Detroit that was also brand-new that year, was horrendous. Trial by fire.
First day blues
Back to school is always hard for me, though not because I miss my kids. I feel the same relief as all the other SAHMs when the kids head off to school. No, it’s because my husband has to go back to work, too. It’s so lovely to have him around all summer, especially when there’s a very rambunctious toddler in the family. We do role reversal all summer: he takes care of the kids most of the time, while I do my own thing. This summer, I started a little home business. Little in the scheme of things, but A Very Big Deal to me, with huge emotional investment. It is painful to have to cut back my time on that and go back to being the SAHM while he goes off to work. And I miss him.
Phone call from the teacher!
My 3rd grade son’s teacher called last night. I was worried for a moment, but she wasn’t calling about his behavior. She was calling the parents of all the kids in his reading group to tell them about the book she had just assigned: The Giver, by Lois Lowry. This book, she told me, was written for 5th-8th graders (yes, Son of Bookworm is in the advanced reading group) and it has mature themes. Well, one mature theme. Euthanasia. Was it okay with me if Joey reads this book? It’s so hard to find books that are at their reading level and their age level. The school librarian suggested it. And the kids had already read the first couple of chapters. (In fact, Joey had mentioned it at dinner yesterday. He was very excited about this cool book he had just started.)
