Thursday, December 4, 2008

We're Supposed to Be Following His Interests

The kids in Shef's class are investigating animals. We got a letter about the project from his teacher:

Dear Parents, it said, and I'm paraphrasing, PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS PROJECT FOR YOUR CHILD. Help your child find an animal HE would like to study. DO NOT force your child to look at websites or books on the animal if he doesn't want to. Again, LET THE CHILD TAKE THE LEAD. DO NOT make your child do a poster or a diorama. There is no required homework. So, please don't do this project for your child. And please, for the love of God, DO NOT DO THIS PROJECT FOR YOUR CHILD. Thank you. And p.s. HANDS OFF THE ANIMAL PROJECT!!

So, Dan and I were committed to helping Shef find an animal he really liked. We reminded him of the many exciting species we've seen on our frequent visits to the Minnesota Zoo. Tapir! Komodo Dragon! Amur Tiger! Prairie Dog!

Or, he could have chosen an exciting animal featured in one of the many animated features we've viewed on multiple occasions. Sea turtle! Panda Bear! Lion! Penguin!

Do you know what he chose? After many weeks of consideration?

The duck.

Like, a mallard.

A duck!

Thank goodness I've been forbidden from making any dioramas.

9 comments:

Cyndy said...

Speaking of ducks, Ellen's rubber ducks are her favorite toys. I think "duck" will be her first word; she's already trying to say it. What's with the ducks?

anne said...

Eleanor understands the word "duck," too--I was going to tell you that, KC. It's one of the five or six words that I know she understands (monkey, kitty and dog are among the others--what's with the animal thing??).

AnnD said...

We talk about Komodo dragon's constantly in this house - big bad beast!

A duck is an unusual choice, but it was his choice!

LH said...

How's he supposed to study ducks on his own? Please keep me posted.

Would probably be crossing some HUGE line but reading Make Way for Ducklings together would probably be fun. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are in there.

If you want a 20 page report on pioneer holidays when Shef gets to second grade, I have it in teendaughter's stash of stuff. Let's get some mileage out of that!

jhw said...

I thought he already picked tigers!
Guess we will have to give somebody else the tiger calendar 2009

doc

Martha said...

I actually HAD a pet duck when I was about 10. Grandpa won it in a poker game. (Yes, true!) It was in a gunny sack in the garage and I heard it quacking wildly in the morning. I ran into my parents room to report the unworldly sound. My dad told me to go check it out in our tiny, tuck-under, single-car garage. When I looked the gunny sack was jumping around the on its own. He came down, released the duck and I fell in love and claimed it as a pet. (It was going to be dinner.) Daisy spent days tied to the clothes pole and nights in the window well with a board over the top. Well, she escaped and was injured by dogs. We found her bloody and barely alive in the swamp. My father put her out of her misery with a hatchet and buried her someplace near the 9455 house!

Martha said...

The above story is nothing like Make Way for Ducklings. Sorry about that!

KC said...

well, it seems lots of kids are into ducks!

i guess the deal is that the kids are going to do the project at school, and if they WANT to do some stuff at home, like look at books or go to the zoo (or in our case, head over to St. Kate's to see the pond), then fine. But in the past, they've had some serious projects come in clearly done by parents. So.

I'm going to the library today, so maybe I'll pick up a few duck books just in case he feels like paging through.

Eric said...

Zoe's first word was duckie, so not a bad pick.

Note: Her 8-12 word vocabulary no longer seem to contain the word duckie and frogs have taken over her interest in head to head competition, but duckie will always be the first word.