Student of the Month

Last night i got an email from Katrina's teacher, telling me that she was getting an award in the assembly today. That should have been my first hint that middle school was different - in the past, i'd get an email days in advance telling me exactly what was coming.

I dropped the kids off casually, made sure Katrina wasn't watching, and parked in the parking lot to wait until school started. As soon as i walked into the gym, it was obvious that this just wasn't going to be like assemblies in the past. The bleachers weren't taken down, so there was nowhere to sit (i took them down), and there were no other parents there. At all. Eventually two other parents wandered in, but in elementary school award assemblies, the bleachers (all three sets) are always packed full of parents.

When Katrina walked in, she didn't immediately look at the bleachers, so i thought that maybe she'd actually be surprised this time around. Usually she's seen me as soon as she walks into the gym and knows immediately that she's getting an award. She continued to not look back at all for half of the assembly, all through the completely random and utterly un-understandable skits that were supposedly about respect. (I mean, DUDE. There was a 20-30 minute thing that felt more like hours, where one of the teachers boringly explained how we could have respect for ourselves, and then the seventh graders had a skit that made NO SENSE done by kids who were reading off papers and skipping lines, i think, and ... pretending that one of the smaller kid had become a larger kid because he had eaten too much? Which seemed kind of mean to the larger kid. And then the teacher explained how we could respect each other, followed by a skit that made no sense.... This went on through respecting teachers and the building and ... something else. It was interminable.)

As soon as she realized that it was awards day, though, she swiveled around to look, saw me...and immediately deduced that she was getting an award. Stinker.

So i'm going to brag a second: Here we are, first month of awards, and Katrina has received the "Student of the month for moral focus." I'm not surprised. She's an incredibly dedicated, hard-working, kind student. She's the kind of kid i'd want in my classroom. I'm super proud of her. She's such a great kid.

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Tonight we went to see "Minions" at the movie theater, because it was free for kids and only $5 for adults. It was a cute movie, and going to the theater is a fun thing to do, but it kind of doesn't feel like a Friday right now, because there was no pizza or anything. I'm a creature of habit, and this has totally thrown off my routine.