This week Megan and I escorted Conor to his Welcome Day at Stratton Elementary School. He will be starting kindergarten in September. He was a bit reticent when we first arrived, hiding his head and not speaking to anyone. The kids were split up into groups to visit the different kindergarten classrooms. As he left with his "bee" group he cheered up. He came back into the cafeteria with a huge smile. Success! He was wearing a "Stratton Pride" backpack and had a lot to say about his tour of the school.Brian also went to school at Stratton. From the outside Stratton isn't that impressive. I am now absolutely thrilled with it. The administration and staff are the most welcoming and nurturing group of people. The rooms are huge and you can see right away when you enter that they value kids.
Tonight Conor and I had a little interaction that I could only imagine would be enjoyed by his future kindergarten teacher:
Conor was mad about going to bed tonight (as he is most nights). He threw Swimmy on the floor, telling me that he didn't like that book. Swimmy is a great book. After all, it's written by Leo Lionni. And it won a Caldecott Honor. I disregarded his lack of appreciation for good literature and we read 2 other books first. Then I started reading Swimmy. It begins like this (I quote from the first four pages),
A happy school of little fish lived in a corner of the sea somewhere. They were all red. Only one of them was as black as a mussel shell. He swam faster than his brothers and sisters. His name was Swimmy.
One bad day a tuna fish, swift, fierce and very hungry came darting through the waves. In one gulp he swallowed all the little red fish. Only Swimmy escaped.
He swam away in the deep wet world. He was scared, lonely and very sad.
But the sea was full of wonderful creatures, and as he swam from marvel to marvel Swimmy was happy again.
Conor stopped abruptly and said indignantly, "HAPPY?!! How could he be happy when his family is DEAD!!!???"
Impossible. On one page Swimmy lost all of his brothers and sisters and felt sad. The very next page he was happy again. I could appreciate Conor's shock at Swimmy's ability to cope and move on from such a huge loss. Conor's little brain is so much fun to analyze. I love him so much and think he is intelligent and clever. Some days I want to loan him out to the neighbors while I regroup, but then he says something so unexpected. Oh, Conor! Your kindergarten teacher will love you.
6 comments:
This made me laugh! Conor is going to keep his teachers on his/her toes in a wonderful way:)
I can't believe Conor is starting Kindergarten this fall! I know (teaching Kindergarten myself) that I would LOVE to have Conor in my class...what an exciting time for you guys! I like the book Swimmy and think Conor's comment is great.
I love this post! I so agree with Conor - Swimmy's ability to cope is a bit much for me too. :)
AHHHH I am freaking out that some man (Annacy has a male teacher...of which I am excited) is going to be in charge of my daughter and everything she does for 6 hours out of her day. Our K is all day. I think I will pull my hair out.
Annacy told me she really really wants to ride the bus. I said I would follow it in our car to comfort her. She gave me this crazy look and said, No mom! You dont have to like dads mom had to. (Brian was scared as a kid) Funny. Im going to follow it anyway......For me.
Jami, we have full-day Kindergarten too. It will be weird/sad/exciting all at the same time. We can walk to our school, but Conor would love to ride the bus, I'm sure. Annacy is cute. We're so excited to hang out with you guys in less than 2 weeks!!!!
If only we were all as well equipped with coping skills as Swimmy. LOL.
Post a Comment