Show and Tell

So, who remembers "show and tell" from their old elementary school days?  My kids don't have it.  Their preschool doesn't have it (I have specific memories of having it at my preschool back in 1987/88) and it isn't part of Ben's Kindergarten day either.  It was always pretty fun.  I assume they don't have it because it can cause a lot of distraction having kids bring toys and favorite things at home to school.  Also, I can't remember how it was all arranged in "my day" but it had to have taken a lot of time.  I can tell you that distractions were rampant.  Can you imagine a school day where someone's mom brought a dog on a leash or a box full of kittens into the classroom?  Well, that happened often after making special arrangements with the teacher and it was sometimes my mom bringing the animals.  One day one of my classmate's moms brought their latest kitten litter into the room in her coat pockets.  A lot of us lived on farms so having kittens wasn't a novelty but it sure was fun seeing them at school.

Anyway, Ben had been asking if he could bring Calvin to school so when I was emailing the teacher to tell her he would be missing school to go to Frisco with Justin I asked if it was possible to bring a baby to school even though they don't have show and tell.  She said yes and we planned a day.  That day was last Wednesday morning.  Tessa was at preschool but I had to bring the two year old goon with and was worried about the ensuing chaos he might cause.  It was pretty fun though.  I must say that the teacher sure does use her classroom management skills.  I had a brief semester in college where I took education classes before changing my mind so I recognized a few of her methods and I also learned some teaching skills when I took water safety instructor classes but it was non stop.  The kids all seemed happy though which is good to see and it appears my kid is well behaved and listens (at least at school!) and he seems popular with his classmates.  When I arrived they were finishing up listening to a book about a new baby and then we talked about a babies for awhile and the teacher took pictures and sent home some she printed a few days later.

A few other kids said they had babies at home so we probably started a parade of baby visitors.  And the teacher said show and tell does indeed happen at this school starting in first grade. They all wanted to hold him and I made some excuse about how there wasn't enough time for twenty kids to hold him and the teacher cut right to the chase and informed them that it would spread too many germs.   

I'm just really happy about how the school year has gone so far.  I remember how intimidated Ben was by the packed playground when I dropped him off in the morning those first few weeks and now he just jumps out of the car and runs off without looking back.  He talks about playing football and soccer and the snow forts they build.  I was nervous about him riding the bus with so many older kids but that has been fine too.  He's the last drop off and the kid who gets dropped off right before him is a 5th grader and it sounds like this boy has adopted Ben as his little buddy.  He's always bringing home these fancy paper airplanes that his friend made him from a paper folding book he has.  For Christmas, Ben got a little puzzle on a keychain (he always talks about how kids have keychains on their backpacks) and it broke on the bus (it was similar to a Rubik's cube except made of little balls) and the next day Ben came home with a real Rubik's cube that his buddy brought him from home to replace his keychain.  He must have been playing with it when it broke.  

I recently read a blog post on a parenting site where the writer was giving an account of her kids' school's nightmarish drop off/pick up line. For me, the drop off is easy but the pickup is nuts.  I have rarely picked him up but when I did I had to park blocks away because people start showing up an hour before school is out to be close to the door and there is no parking lot except the small one for the teachers.  Then, silly me, I read some comments on the article and apparently there is a mommy war over putting your kids on the bus and a lady even "went there" and said it was lazy parenting because moms who put their kids on the bus just want to stay in bed.  Yeah...Ben gets himself ready and hikes down to the bully filled war zone that is the school bus by himself while me, my newborn, my two and four year old all sleep the morning away and lounge around in bed.  Just selfish.  It's so much better on the mornings when I drive them because Ben and Tessa both have school and we are running around like lunatics to get out the door by 8. Judge away, Internet strangers.  I'm glad to use the service which we all pay for anyway to make everyone's day much easier and to have one less gigantic kid hauling vehicle taking up space on the streets around the school at 3:00.   

Here is a quick Calvin picture which I just think it funny.  No relation to the rest of the post at all.