With a few minor hiccups, kindergarten was off to a very strong start in our house. According to Simon’s own reports, the bus ride was getting better once he and Gwyneth, a girl from our stop, started to sit together and the regular driver returned from his National Guard duty. His class was quieter than last year’s, a big plus in his book. He loved the feeling of independence that came from going through the lunch line on his own, walking to his class from the bus on his own, and having a job in the classroom. I was even starting to hear a bit about Chinese (“A mei mei is a little sister, but not a baby. More like a toddler like Anyieth … Our teacher said she ate rice at every meal—even breakfast! That’s crazy!”), science (“There’s a skeleton in the room, like a real dead person”), and the playground (“Shaina and Adarius chased me and Rhyse. If they caught us in the castle, they cut our heads off. But Rhyse and I were too fast!”)
This Monday marked the start of week 4, a time when barring Simon’s freak-out over check pluses and his regular ravenous afternoon hunger (the class snack is not big enough for him), he should have been really hitting his groove. So what happened? His teacher got called up for jury duty. Does it ever, ever come at a good time? While Mr. Sowder is off fulfilling his civic duty, the strains are starting to show. Monday and Tuesday the class got a regular sub who knows the school well. Simon reported that his friends were giving her a thumbs down, but that he liked her and that she was a lot like Mr. Sowder. Yesterday he got a different sub. This one apparently did not control the class well, and Simon reported that it was too loud for him all day.
Also, his class was put on silence in the gym, which only happens when kids are getting rowdy.
Also, he got confused in the lunch-line and ended up with a sloppy joe instead of grilled cheese, meaning he was starving all day.
Also, yesterday’s snack was gummies, which violate class rules and left Simon even hungrier (and possibly with rotted teeth).
Also, the sub did not understand that Simon has a class job right now and wouldn’t let him out of his chair to count the class money.
The only highlights to his day? Investigating Taliyah’s beaded braids (“She says she can do my hair for me.”) and Bobbi’s decorative clips (“They’re the colors of the rainbow! She’s so pretty…”). And learning to log in to computers in the lab.
Pretty please with sugar on top circuit court people, let this end before my son decides he hates school and before poor Mr. Sowder has to start settling his class in over from scratch. And really, isn’t teaching kindergarten a civic duty in its own right?