On the Other Side

Justin with his teacher, Mrs. Alvino.

Showing off his grrreat (if I do say so myself) flag report and project!

Andrea with her "All About me" poster!


Andrea giving her Benjamin Franklin report - notice the Ben Franklin puppet we made!

All year ( since we got the kids ) I have been on the other side. I was on the other side of the Parent /Teacher Conference table, the other side of being the person who supplied the treats for holiday parties, went on field trips, and put projects together for the teacher.

Last night was the epitomy of the OTHER SIDE! I was at Open House without a care in the world I thought . . . I hadn't spent weeks getting kids to prepare the most fabulous projects, nor had I spent hours cleaning 5 year old's germs off tables and walls, I hadn't nearly broken my neck falling off tiny Kindergarten chairs while hanging butterflies and other gorgeous art work from the ceilings . . .instead I happily walked with my family to our local school . . .strolled through the Media Center to critique the Power Point presentations, checked out the art curriculum in the Art Lab, walked around the library to be sure there were enough books for my children, and then preceeded to the classrooms where I carefully reviewed just how much my child and the class accomplished this year. Of course I counted how many of the projects had my child's name on them and then continued by oooing andf aahhing about what a fabulous job they had done.

Then the real reason for Open House began! Looking over next years teachers. Since our kids go to a school with literally hundreds of students there are several classes of each grade. We looked . . . and looked . . .and looked until at last I looked at james and said, "We can go home now, I know whose classes I will request for next year!". I'm pretty sure he thinks I am over the top on this - but if you've taught I long as I did you just know a good teacher when you see her class.