CRIMSON COMMENTS by Rose McGlew
Another school year is finished! Paul is moving on to Pond Road Middle School and Jacob is firmly ensconced in Sharon Elementary as a first-grader. They’ve learned so much this year and so have I. Paul is confident with long division and Jacob can read. Paul actually looks forward to gym and Jacob loves art. My education has expanded in many areas here are some of the things I learned this school year.
It is possible to get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, pack your lunch, walk the dog (twice) and kiss someone goodbye in 15 minutes. It is also possible to lose your voice from yelling in that same amount of time.
If you have a good bus driver the day is off to a good start, even as you’re rushing around the house trying to make it to the stop on time. Even if you miss the bus, if you’re extra lucky, you can make it on the return pass. Thanks, Miss Gail.
You can learn all sorts of interesting things even before you get to school. You can learn which neighbors take out the trash in their robes, who needs to mow the grass and, if you sit in the back of the bus, you can add an extensive array of mature language to your vocabulary.
It is possible to eat too much yogurt for breakfast. It is also a good idea to have a caring older sibling to escort you to the nurse’s office after losing all that yogurt. Throwing up breakfast and throwing up from a stomach virus are both equally valid reasons for having to go home.
If you’re too sick to go to (or stay at) school, then you’re too sick to play games on the computer.
Said computer will usually have problems connecting to the Internet for a research project only minutes before it runs out of ink in the printer… on a Sunday night.
As soon as you finally recycle all those Styrofoam egg cartons someone will have to make a caterpillar. Ditto for old magazines and collages.
Not everyone gets invited to every birthday party. There’s always someone who doesn’t like your cupcakes.
Girls are: gross, silly, funny, dumb, okay, nice, and not anyone’s girlfriend. And if they are, I’m not allowed to acknowledge their existence. Neither are my sons. Apparently, the more a girl is ignored, the higher up on the likeability scale she ranks. I do not know if this is reciprocal.
The actual field trip itself is never scarier than your imagining it. Some of them are even fun!
Amidst all the worksheets, there are gems to be collected and saved in a special place.
Speaking of gems, I’m going to shamelessly brag about the teachers my children had this year. Mrs. Pivovarnick worked miracles with Jacob in his first year in school. When Jacob began kindergarten, he hated to color, could barely write his name and spoke pretty clearly. Last week, he brought in an intricate coloring page of stained glass that he had done for Mrs. Pivovarnick. We rarely have to interpret his speech anymore and his writing is almost legible. He’s able to sight read many words and can sound out loads of others. He’s learned manners and good social behavior and that people other than Mom know the rules.
Miss Fink reinforced for Paul that reading and writing go together and can do so in a pleasant way. She opened up whole worlds in science and gave him hands-on activities that made sense. A sense of humor and a love of this transitional age worked well not only for Miss Fink, but for her students as well. She saw the good in every child and every parent and truly welcomed our families into her classroom.
There were loads of other important people who touched our lives this year and taught us lessons. Some were great and important and others were small and just as important. Our eyes were opened to situations we never realized existed. We all made new friends and took on new roles and grew in ways we never expected. Thanks to everyone who helped shape our 2002-03 school year into a positive one.