Day 293, Year 7: Special Moments
Date: Monday, August 27, 2012
Weather: Partly Cloudy Day, Rain Forecast for Tonight and Tomorrow
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was one of those special moments in time. It was not Sam’s first day
of kindergarten, but he did go to school for an hour and a half introduction
to kindergarten with Heather and Jed. We just can’t believe he is so grown
up and will be going to ‘real’ school starting next week. He’s been in
pre-school, but this seems so very different. I kept Oliver and Jonah and
we walked over to the school to meet Sam, Heather, and Jed at the end of the
orientation. Jonah and I got to see Sam’s classroom and meet his teacher,
Mrs. Creighton. She’s very easy going and I think she is the perfect
kindergarten teacher for Sam. He is such a perfectionist and puts so much
pressure on himself, but I think Mrs. Creighton might be able to relax him a
bit. Sam’s good friend, Sebastian, will be in the classroom across the hall
and they will get to see one another on the playground. So Sam is really
excited about going to school. Jonah will be continuing to go to the Woods
Hole Daycare Cooperative three days a week, but he is really going to miss
his big brother. They have not been in the same class at the Daycare, but
on the playground, Jonah has always preferred to play with Sam and his
friends. Now they won’t be there, so the next couple of months could be
challenging for Jonah. But it could be a good time for him as he can be
Jonah instead of Sam’s little brother-the plight of being number 2.
Yesterday Heather was asking me about homework in kindergarten. I told her
that I didn’t think it would be an issue. Some math programs have take-home
assignments to be worked on by parents and children cooperatively and I gave
Heather an example of a first grade homework assignment. The assignment
was, “Whose picture is on the dime?” Heather reached for a dime, but still
had no idea who it was. Then today, I posed the same question to Jed. He
had some ideas but started out warmer than where he ended up. I didn’t tell
them, and I’m not going to tell you. But I will tell you that it has
something to do with the March of Dimes. That might help is you are old
enough, but I’m hoping you will do a little research to figure this one out.
Until 1946, Lady Liberty, in many different poses and styles, graced the
front of the dime. When I was Sam’s age, a Lady Liberty with wings on her
head was still very common. But eventually the 1946 dime with the picture
of a certain president became the common image.
