The Setting: Summer School with eleven 2nd graders, 8:45am.
We do an ice breaker: How many of you have pets? I ask.
Sam* raises his hand.
“I have a little dog, he’s part…”
“Poodle?!” Adam* interrupts.
“No, he’s part…”
“Beagle?”
“No, he’s part hot dog dog and…”
“Terrier?”
“NO! He’s part hot dog dog and chi…”
“He’s a chihuahua!”
“NO! I HAVE A CHIWEENIE!”
Today was the fourth day of summer school (I’m teaching a 2nd and 3rd grade combo class). We hadn’t even gotten to the fun stuff yet (math Bingo with M&Ms and vocabulary skits) when one second grader beamed and said, “I love summer school!”
“What part?” I asked.
“All of it!”
Her gratitude was intense and contagious. Other students murmured in agreement. Summer school is the bomb.
She could have complained about waking up, getting dressed and going to school.
She could have dreaded doing math (again).
She could have complained and compared herself to other kids who are going on vacations to California and beyond.
But she was completely present. She was 100% here with 16 other kids and me and we had a great time.
Sitting with my daughter “Bunny” by the pool
we talk about Kate Spade’s suicide and sadness we’ve never known
Bunny’s hair is fanned all over the pool deck, her clear eyes to the sky
Spade wrote a letter to her 13-year-old daughter
telling her it wasn’t her fault
my words ride the waves of the pool and get sucked into the filter
Looking at Bunny, the note seems an especially cruel gesture
In the distance, we can hear a woodpecker on aluminum siding
One could be grumpy, but why?
Saw this in the parking lot at Costco.
My daughter and I were perplexed.
Thoughts?
Job security?
Hero complex?
Conflicted?
drizzling cold and gray
apprehension spurious
refuge lies within
School is out and I’m preparing to teach summer school at a new site. I’ll be teaching 11 second graders and 6 third graders. Last night, I confided in my daughter (aka Wise Owl):
“I’m kinda scared of these kids.”
“Why? Aren’t they, like, five years old?”
“Seven! And some are eight!“
Teachers have an opportunity to take enrichment classes to make up for days we took during the Walk Out. #Red4Ed
I’m taking CPR. I wonder how much it’s changed since I took it way back in the day?
I’m thinking about becoming a pescatarian…
Really? I thought you were a devout Catholic!
Kismet 