Child of the Week
At Raina's school, each child has a designated week that is ultra special. The kid is declared "child of the week" and multiple things happen as a result. 1) The kid is "line leader" all week -- quite a thrill, according to Raina. 2) The kid makes an "All About Me" poster that is prominently displayed on the classroom door. 3) All the other students journal "I really like Raina because..." statements and they are compiled into a book for the child. 4) The kid gets homework.
Now, I'm totally fine with Raina having homework. Her teachers assign one book report a week, and Raina is always excited about coming home and doing her work immediately. My complaint is that homework for Raina is really homework for Raina's parents, and we were hard pressed to get it all done this weekend. We had to read her book, discuss it, and fill out her book report. Then, for child of the week, we read two additional books, played a game, looked at a personalized book about Raina's class, made the poster, and journaled about the experience. Compiling everything for the poster was the time consuming part, especially since we were gone all Sunday, we don't have hard-copy pictures of our kid, and we didn't want to do her homework for her. So she had to choose the pictures and cut them out and place them and glue them, and goodness that takes forever. I suddenly understand why parents do their kids' projects; it's so much easier on the parents! But Raina finished it and she is very proud of her poster.
She refused to tell stories about her day yesterday, so we don't know how day one of child of the week status went. I'm crossing my fingers that it's everything Raina hoped it would be.
Side note: The personalized book about the class had the kids answer questions about themselves. What does Raina want to be when she grows up? A mommy and a skater. What does she like doing with her parents? She likes when we teach her how to play hard games (i.e., the adult board games). Her favorite cartoon? Babylon 5. Of course, Babylon 5 is not a cartoon, but Raina doesn't watch much traditional TV and I think it was the best she could come up with. Her teachers misspelled the name; clearly they are not attuned to 1990's sci-fi shows!
Now, I'm totally fine with Raina having homework. Her teachers assign one book report a week, and Raina is always excited about coming home and doing her work immediately. My complaint is that homework for Raina is really homework for Raina's parents, and we were hard pressed to get it all done this weekend. We had to read her book, discuss it, and fill out her book report. Then, for child of the week, we read two additional books, played a game, looked at a personalized book about Raina's class, made the poster, and journaled about the experience. Compiling everything for the poster was the time consuming part, especially since we were gone all Sunday, we don't have hard-copy pictures of our kid, and we didn't want to do her homework for her. So she had to choose the pictures and cut them out and place them and glue them, and goodness that takes forever. I suddenly understand why parents do their kids' projects; it's so much easier on the parents! But Raina finished it and she is very proud of her poster.
She refused to tell stories about her day yesterday, so we don't know how day one of child of the week status went. I'm crossing my fingers that it's everything Raina hoped it would be.
Side note: The personalized book about the class had the kids answer questions about themselves. What does Raina want to be when she grows up? A mommy and a skater. What does she like doing with her parents? She likes when we teach her how to play hard games (i.e., the adult board games). Her favorite cartoon? Babylon 5. Of course, Babylon 5 is not a cartoon, but Raina doesn't watch much traditional TV and I think it was the best she could come up with. Her teachers misspelled the name; clearly they are not attuned to 1990's sci-fi shows!
Comments