The Me Box

While we're on the subject of the Chicago school experience, I want to share how proud I was of Baxter today. Each student in his class was asked to create their own "Me Box" - decorated in any way, filled with whatever artifacts they chose to represent themselves. Baxter worked hard on his, and loved it! He decorated the exterior with Peanuts cartoons, affixed with lots and lots of tape. Inside he placed his dad's old Snoopy, a book to represent how much he loves to read, photos of the four of us, a photo he chose of Baker Beach with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge (to let them know that he's from SF), a toy cheetah ("because I invented a Superhero called Cheetah Boy"), and a toy Komodo Dragon ("because I liked the Komodo Dragon at the Aquarium").

Although Baxter did not volunteer to go up and present his box, he got right up with a smile when his teacher called on him. He spoke loudly and clearly (not easy for many of his classmates) and although he did a "bare bones" presentation due to nervousness, he got it all in there. When asked later how he'd felt up there, he told us that he was a little bit nervous about telling the class that he brought a cheetah ("Did you notice I did that one last?") because, he feels, he didn't really invent Cheetah Boy because the cheetah was already invented. Hmmm. The inner workings.

At any rate, we were happy to get a glimpse of life inside Baxter's classroom. It's a very nice place to be. The kids are polite and respectful but having fun. It was good to see that there were others who are already reading and were clearly verbally adept. His teacher is working hard at setting a beginning of the year tone, but she can't keep her smile and the twinkle in her eye at bay for long. She was very kind to the kids. There were a ton of parents there, many taking the morning off from work, like us, and I was so glad to see the wide variety of races represented around the room. It is clear from all that is on the walls and the homework that has been sent home every night that some serious learning is going on here; I'm happy that Baxter's in a rigorous academic program because he really needs that challenge. All in all, a good first glimpse into Room 106.