DAY 123

This 5th grade class in Plymouth/Canton has a morning routine where the kids check whether homework was finished, as well as take attendance and get the lunch count ready. They have a list of their names and whenever they leave the room they move their clothespin onto their name and then back into the bin when they return – great way to make them responsible and let the teacher know when people come and go. This was a good group, although a bit loud until brought back down to reality.

Today was a very light load.

For about an hour and a half, we joined another class and watched the movie “The City of Ember” (because the kids are reading the book). As a futuristic-earth-is-messed-up story, it was pretty good. It reminded me some of “Snowpiercer” (which is intriguing, but too gory) and “Divergent” and starred Bill Murray as the evil mayor and Martin Landau as an old pipeworks worker (and comic relief).

Then, after lunch and reading time, I walked them from station to station at their Field Day. It is a glorious Spring day, hot, but breezy, with blue skies and fluffy white clouds and it was a joy to be outside for nearly 2 hours! Since I’m still not feeling fully well, I carried a stool along with me because I knew I couldn’t stand up for the entire time. Since I had been informed about the Field Day,  I was dressed in capris, T-shirt, sandals and sunglasses, with my ice water at my side.

Nostalgia: Field Day is all for fun, and so the parents running it don’t enforce the rules too much. I noticed one particular girl cheated on every game. Most of the kids followed the rules. It reminded me of community 4th of July picnics where there WAS a prize at stake and the judges rarely disqualified kids who jumped out ahead before the word, “Go”, leaving other contestants (including some of my kids) angry. Don’t people think that it’s important for kids to learn from the rules? And what does it say to those who follow them if you are afraid to hurt little Susie’s feelings by telling her that she didn’t follow the rules?