F ³: What Are They Learning in School These Days?

What Norman Knows, by Julia A McCready

(This story is dedicated to the real Norman and his family. I hope someday it will be a published picture book.)

On Monday Dad picked up Norman from school.

“What did you learn in school today?” asked Dad.

“Nothing,” said Norman.

On Tuesday Mom was driving Norman and Leah to the library.

What did you learn in school today?” asked Mom.

“Nothing,” said Norman.

On Wednesday Grandma was sitting at the kitchen table helping Leah with her homework.

Norman was doing a puzzle.

“What did you learn in school today?” asked Grandma.

“Nothing,” said Norman.

On Thursday Dad was tucking Norman into bed.

“What did you learn in school today?” asked Dad.

“Nothing,” said Norman.

“Now wait a minute,” said Dad. You go to school every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You stay all day. And you mean to tell me you don’t do anything?”

Norman looked at Dad.

“What did I learn? Or what did I do?” asked Norman.

Dad thought for a minute.

“Okay. What did you do?” he asked.

“Well, Mrs. Evans read a book about an ant going for a walk. The ant had red sneakers! Then we had center time and there was a cool play mat with all of the places the ant went in the story and I got to play with the bugs on it. It was like a map.”

“Next I went in the blocks and me and John built an apartment house for all the bugs but we had to figure out how many rooms we needed and how big they were. The grasshopper was biggest.”

“Oh, this was the best—we had a snack center and we made Ants on a Log and I got to eat them!”

“After we cleaned up we sang the Ants go Marching but I wouldn’t suck my thumb. That’s baby stuff, right? But Ms. Jackson sucked her thumb. We laughed.”

Dad’s face looked surprised. He was quiet for a long time. Then, he said,

“Thank you, Norman. That was great.”

And he kissed him goodnight.

On Friday Norman had the day off from school. When Dad came home, Norman asked,

“What did you learn at work today, Dad?”

“Nothing,” said Dad.

“Come on, Dad! You were gone all day. You must have done something!”

Dad grinned.

“What did I learn or what did I do?”

(Illustrations show them laughing, maybe tickling, wrestling or some positive physical interaction.)

- - The end

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

Columbia Chance Connection

Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!” We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog