The Daily Report

During the year, I spend quiet a bit of time in our lower school, down through the five year old kindergarten.  It's a different world for a high school teacher when you walk into the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten domain! The following, from April 12, 2006.

I hate trash. I try to pick it up whenever I can at school. We do a pretty good job at Westbury Christian but we could, like almost every other school, do better. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I arrive at 6:00. The parking lot is deserted and if there is litter in my path, I try to do my part to beautify our facility. Yesterday morning, there was a piece of paper lying close to my parking spot. Stooping down, I retrieved it and was about to toss it in one of the playground garbage cans when I looked at it. Much of the world's trash is deliberately dropped but I think this piece of paper was left behind unintentionally. It was an official document, sort of. The only way I can do it justice is to reproduce it below:
Westbury Christian School K3 Daily Report
Date ________________

_________________ would like to share his/her day with you.
Behavior:
I had a fantastic day _________________
I had a good day ____________________
I need help learning to ______________________________________
______________________________________________________Snack:I ate ________ did not eat _________
Lunch:
I ate everything _______ most _______ some _______ none _______
Comment: __________________________________Nap:Slept _____ rested ______Comment: _______________________________Ooops! I had an accident today. Please replace my extra clothes _______

I had fun today: ___________________________

There was a name written on the yellow sheet of one of our three year old kindergarten students. Going down the check list, this young lady had a good day, ate her snack, ate most of her lunch, and slept at nap time. Our little one also had fun making a bird's nest! I would say, all in all, a most impressive performance! Her teacher, Stephanie Lang, told me each child receives one of these scorecards at the completion of each day. I could never keep up with that! Maybe I need one of these for my life. At the end of the day, I could recreate my eighteen waking hours. Did I behave well? Were my food choices healthy ones? Did I get sufficient rest? What was the most fun I had? It would do me good to evaluate myself. Too often, I just let one day roll into the next without holding myself accountable. Children are constantly monitored in school for signs of progress. As Christians, we should take the responsibility to monitor ourselves. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves." I know one three year old who had a good day on Monday- I have the paper to prove it! I just wish I was as sure about myself!

Applicable quote of the day:
"One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child."
Maria Montessori

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com