Mind your P's and Q's

School projects. Urg.

Last month, the Kindergarten class had a special project to do in celebration of their 100th day of school. Each child was to collect 100 objects and display them in a creative way.

Colin flunked. Well, ok he didn't flunk, because they don't actually give real grades in Kindergarten, but he was told to do the project over.

You see, Colin drew a large graph with 100 spaces and filled in each space with the letter Q. ("Why Q?" I asked. "Because they are unusual" said Colin.) They only thing I did was procure a piece of poster paper and get him a ruler. He did the rest himself.

I don't need to tell you that, on the morning the project was due, the Kindergarten pod was filled with projects that looked like they were done by Martha Stewart in conjunction with a professional architect. Buttons, sea shells, Legos, pennies, and beads were arranged in beautiful patterns. Some spelled out the child's name or formed pictures. They had been turned into coasters, necklaces, and 3-D models. Many involved paper mache.

Colin's project, done all by himself and his own idea, was unacceptable... because he didn't COLLECT anything. That's right, folks. That which you create yourself is not good enough in the suburbs. Apparently the point of the project is not to ensure the child knows what 100 of something looks like, it's to encourage them to grow up to collect.

I decided not to make him re-do the project on the grounds that it was unabashed materialism. Either that, or I'm just lazy.

But I do know that he learned what he needed to learn. Today a paper came home from school in which he wrote about his project. "For the 100th day of school I collected Qs and I turned my collection into a Q graph."

I'm not worried a bit.

The truth as he sees it

The worksheet said to complete the following sentences:

I have ________ eyes.
I have ________ hair.
My hair is __________.

Colin writes:
I have SOME eyes.
I have LOTS OF hair.
My hair is BEAUTIFUL.

Sweet

Colin's class was supposed to write down things they liked about Kindergarten and why. Colin's contribution:

"Lunch because no work. Also brownies."

The Very Funny Boy

The Kindergarten classes were studying insects this month and, as part of that unit, they read all the Eric Carle "very" stories: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Quiet Cricket, etc.

Part of one assignment was to create a book cover for the "very" story you would write.

Colin's invented "The Very Swimmy Duck."

Isn't that just ducky!

Good Fortune

The kids love to eat at Pho Que Hong. Don't get too excited. They aren't eating anything exotic. They eat chicken soup.

As we were leaving yesterday, Colin broke open his fortune cookie and read "Someone thinks you are wonderfully mysterious."

Caroline shouts out "...and magically delicious!"

Let It Snow!

I love living in Dallas! Twice a year, or so, it snows. Not a big blizzard, just a gentle snowfall. We wake to find the neighborhood covered in a light dusting of snow. There is enough to make a snowman, or have a snowball fight, but not so much that we can't go to work or school. By the afternoon it has melted away without a trace. There is no slush to muck up the entryways to our homes, no dirty boots to clean, no endless weeks of waiting for spring. The weather will warm up tomorrow. It's the perfect winter weather.

Yesterday morning was one of those perfect snow days. The kids bounded out of bed and ran outside in not-nearly-enough clothes. And Colin indulged in his most favorite pasttime: eating snow. (The picture is of him eating snow at the Grand Canyon. He is a true snow conisseur.)

Mom sent this article to me about the dangers of eating snow

Since it only snows once or twice a year, I think I'll let him risk it.