Posts Tagged Under elementary school

May 16th, 2009

The Third Grade Fashion Police

“Today Phoebe asked me why I wear dresses all the time,” said my eight-year old daughter, Lena, one day after school.

In denial that girlie peer pressure, which I remembered from middle school, was starting in the third grade, I gave Lena’s classmate the benefit of the doubt.

“You know, Lena, sometimes kids have trouble making conversation.  Perhaps Phoebe just wants to talk with you, and discussing clothes is a way to start.  May be she likes dresses, too. ”

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By Beth Touchette
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April 23rd, 2009

Daddy’s Home And Mommy Needs a Break

I’m a mom who’s ready for school to start up again. Not elementary school — dental school. My husband’s on break for a week before he starts quarter number five of his twelve-quarter program.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that he gets to hang up his shirt and tie and spend some time with us — especially since during the school year I’m relentlessly on duty at home while he’s relentlessly on duty at school or studying.

During this break, we’ve been able to do some meaningful activities together; camping at the ocean, riding bikes along the bay, cutting out paper coconut trees in our son’s kindergarten class, drinking homemade lattes on the sunny porch.

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By Anjie Reynolds
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February 21st, 2009

Middle School is Going to Be VERY Different

On Friday, my husband and I toured the middle school our fifth-grade son will be attending next year.  I recognized parents I hadn’t seen in years, since our kids attended different elementary schools.   We had chatted at the playground as we pushed our babies in swings, or may be we had crossed paths at Mommy and Me Music Class.  All had larger waistlines and more wrinkled foreheads than I remembered.   

We listened politely to the middle-school principal.  She didn’t have the soft, sweet voice of an elementary school principal.  She told us how important it was to check our kids’ agenda every day, since our kids might lie to us as to whether they had homework or not.

I stopped listening. 

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By Beth Touchette
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January 27th, 2009

Potential Havoc: Mom’s Sick

“Whoa,” is my immediate response. I hesitate after this initial jolt and then pull up again, trying to lift my heavy throbbing head off the wet pillow.

My condition shouldn’t have been a surprise. After all I’d been up throughout the night gasping for water and trying to double up the blankets around my shivering frame.

I blink back at the clock, trying to register the urgency of getting up after five snooze alarms. My throbbing head cradles the pillow, which feels like a rock rubbing a sore. You’ve got to get the kids ready for school. You’ve got to get the kids ready for school. It registers: a checklist of actions dart across my numb brain. The recognition of how impossible actual racing through the morning is also registers, and compels me to try again.

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By Maija Threlkeld
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January 14th, 2009

Elementary School is the New High School — For Mothers

I walk through the school yard, heading back to my car, ready to roll into work. Small groups of moms stand around the play area, chatting and drinking coffee from commuter mugs. My insecurities kick in and I wonder what group wants me.

Where do I fit?

There are the moms of older kids, who know everything about the school and how my kid will behave since they’ve been through it already. Sometimes they like to talk to me, to give me advice. I play dumb and grateful.

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By admin
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April 25th, 2008

Picture-Perfect for Daughter’s School Picture Day

Today is picture day at my seven-year-old daughter’s elementary school. Last night she asked me to set her fine, straight, golden streaked hair in pin curls. While I knew she had read about pin curls in her Molly, an American Girl: 1944 book — 1944 being a golden age for pin curls ­­­– I was still taken aback.

When I was a girl, every year when picture day rolled around, my mother insisted on setting my slack, black hair. One year it was pin curls, another year rag curls and another pink foam rollers. On the eve of picture day, I slept restlessly with bobby pins or roller holders sticking into my skull while wearing a nylon, floral print roller bonnet or worse, toilet paper wrapped around my head to protect my mother’s handiwork.

In the morning, I would watch in disbelief as she unwound springy curls which made my round face look even rounder. By the time I sat for my picture, the curls would have deflated, losing much of their bounce.

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By Tina Bournazos
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May 13th, 2007

Multiple Choice

The letter informing us where my daughter, Phoebe, will go to kindergarten this fall arrived a couple of weeks ago. “Welcome to ABC School…” it began. It was my first choice out of the three schools I’d checked off on the registration form. I should have been happy. Instead, the whisper of doubt that had been in the back of my mind since making my choice last March was now as impossible to ignore as a car alarm gone ballistic in the middle of the night.

I wasn’t worried about student to teacher ratios, test scores or curriculum. One of the things that thrilled us most about Mill Valley when we moved here last summer was the reputation of its schools. When it came time to enroll Phoebe, I made the logical choice and selected the school closest to us.

But maybe I’m not so logical after all. When I learned that most of Phoebe’s friends from preschool would be attending my second choice school, I wanted to call the district office and beg for her to go there, too.

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By admin
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