A Snippet for Emma

My Emma is a voracious learner. Her kindergarten year with the fabulous Mrs. Fay at the helm has been nothing short of extraordinary. Every week, different stuffed friends join the class (or take over until the kindergartners help restore order, as was the case with the silly monkeys that caused mayhem at the beginning of the year until the children taught them the classroom rules). Last week, there were insects all over the place. This week, Clarissa the Caterpillar promises to emerge from her chrysalis as a butterfly. Real butterflies will soon hatch in class as well. Can't say enough good about your kindergarten experience.

Well, Emma. You soak all the information presented in class through stories, projects, direct instruction, and doing "research." I am always amazed by the details you recall and vocabulary you utilize. Today, when your eye was hurting after you rubbed some nose medicine (mentholatum) in it, you asked if it looked like you had a compound eye. Dad and I weren't sure what you meant. "You know, like a fly." Earlier in the year, you explained to me that unlike insects, which have abdomens and thoraxes, spiders have a cephalothorax. Say what? Also, I loved that when we found a dead fly on the windowsill, instead of screaming you remarked on the latticework on its wings and thought it would be a good idea to take it into class in a bag. (You still wanted a little help getting said dead insect into the baggie, though).

Tonight I was tucking you in and straightening your room a bit. There was, as always, a collection of books at the foot of your bed. There lay The Dangerous Book for Boys, which you borrowed because you were curious after Spencer had used it to research for his planned trip to the Catskill Mountains. (The Far Side of the Mountain has taken strong hold on that boy's imagination). In addition, you had pulled from our home shelves some Magic Schoolbus books - one about butterflies and the other about insects. Ties in perfectly to what you are learning about in school.

I love you, Emma. I love your curiosity, your thirst for knowledge, and your confidence in conversation. You are one special book lovie.