Bookworm

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.

Our principal was not at the meeting. She had gone down to Houston to help with the relief efforts, bringing with her 8 suitcases full of school supplies donated by our school. While there, she threw her back out (compression fracture!) and is still in the hospital down there.

Our beloved kindergarten teacher from last year is now a full-time reading specialist, working intensively with lower-elementary kids who are below grade level. This is the first time in thirty years that she hasn't had her own classroom and she misses it terribly, but, she said, and I quote, "I feel like I'm feeding the hungry."

12 Comments:

  • Yay!!! Sounds like a great school.

    posted by Blogger Liz Miller on 10:42 PM  

  • What a great, great story, and teacher!

    Found you through a oomment on Doulicia's blog.

    Hannah
    www.millinersdream.blogspot.com

    posted by Blogger Milliner's Dream, a woman of many "hats"... on 10:42 AM  

  • Great school but ugh, mealworms.

    posted by Blogger Running2Ks on 10:56 AM  

  • Stories like this make me feel like on a very intimate level, we aren't all going to hell in a handbasket. On the large scale, though, it seems s more like a hell on an express elevator.

    posted by Blogger Suzanne on 11:29 AM  

  • Yikes! Sorry for all the typos in my comment. It should read:

    Stories like this make me feel that on a very intimate level, we aren't all going to hell in a handbasket. On the large scale, though, it seems more like going to hell on an express elevator.

    posted by Blogger Suzanne on 11:30 AM  

  • Wouldn't it be wonderful if all schools could have awesome teachers and well behaved children?

    I'm happy to hear that it's going well.

    What a great post. :0)

    posted by Blogger Adrienne on 6:58 PM  

  • Those mealworms are pretty gross. They do these nasty insect projects in fourth grade at our school and I stupidly allow them to be displayed in the library every year. Yikes! They give me the heebie jeebies. Sounds like your son's teacher is awesome! How are things going with your daughter's teacher?

    posted by Anonymous Anonymous on 7:30 PM  

  • Always good to hear about great teachers.

    Mealworms? Ewww!

    posted by Blogger Fred on 9:00 PM  

  • Julie, great minds think alike! I was blogging about school open houses today, too! (Only a tad more cynically than yours, I'm afraid.)

    posted by Anonymous Anonymous on 11:45 AM  

  • I love your school and I love your teachers. It really amazes me how there are teachers who seemingly don't want to teach.

    Sorry to hear about the principal's back, though. Rotten luck.

    posted by Blogger SuzanH on 8:53 PM  

  • Liz, you should see the playground! :)

    Welcome, Milliner!

    R2K, ugh is right. According to the article I linked to, mealworms' habitat is CABINETS and PANTRIES! Is that disgusting or what!

    Suzanne, good point. It's a shame that us little people are the ones setting an example of leadership and goodness rather than our actual leaders.

    Yeah, Adrienne, it would. There's so much wrong with our education system I hardly know where to begin. My son lucked out this year, that's for sure.

    Nixie, in the library???? Ewww! I'm reserving judgment on Lena's teacher. Her presentation at curriculum night was a little bumpy and I didn't want to write about it in this post because it didn't fit with my little theme of hope in a hopeless world. But she could've just been a little nervous with all the parents, and I wouldn't hold that against her. I'm helping in the classroom next week and then I'll know better.

    Fred, I'm sure it takes one to know one! :)

    Melanie, oh ha ha, I saw your post and it was hilarious!

    Suzan, we had one of those last year. :(

    posted by Blogger Julie on 10:35 PM  

  • whohoooooooo! so glad he'll be challenged and stimulated. OTherwise, he could easily become bored and lost. Gr8 News! :)

    posted by Blogger Gel on 12:05 PM