Friday, February 1, 2008

Organized Chaos

Sara has this plasic accordion file which she bought so she could keep her stuff organized. Frankly, it just looks like a way to store her mess in different compartments. Tonight, I'm going to have a look in here and see for myself how organized it really is. Here we go:

Front compartment:

2 plastic packets of kleenex - one still full, one empty

3 glue sticks

1 big eraser

2 broken chunks of big eraser

bead

pair of scissors

tiny calculator w/ microscopic buttons

green Scooby Doo ring



In the tab marked "Homework"



4 full pages and lots of little strips of multiplication problems, already filled out

2 pages of multiplication story problems

1 dot-to-dot, 1 grammar quiz, 1 school newsletter, 1 reading comprehension exercise, 1 goegraphy quiz, feedback on her oral book report, 2 spelling tests, a snowman made out of paper snowfalkes and named "Frosty"

Her school-issued homework planner

(Now this is interesting...) Her chapter of "Whispers of the Wind", on which she has been making revisions, along with the beginning of Chapter 2. "Soon after her desaperance, her tribe noticed, but when they looked for her they could not find her." A cliffhanger.

(Ooooh. This is even more interesting.) A sealed envelope containing some sort of note. It is labled "To B. From Sara. Top Secret." B. is one of her little boyfriends, when she doesn't hate him. I'll resist the urge to steam it open.


In the tab marked "Other"

Nothing

In the next tab marked "Other"

A school lunch menu (decisions, decisions...) Mini Corn Dogs or Ravioli? French Toast or Country Fried Beef Fingers? Jesus! Is this a school cafeteria or the midway at the county fair?! Gack!

A sticker book

In the next tab marked "Other"

Nothing

In the tab marked "Writing"

A list of possible topics, including horses, fish, white-water rafting, Australia, Sacagawea, cheetahs and earthquakes

A page full of cursive practice

A book that she has made of construction paper, called "The Voyage". Let's see what this is about. "Once there lived a girl her name was Lazma she ruled a country called Lazmania. But of to the side of this country their was a country called Camastalot this country..." That's all so far. Any country with a name that ends in "mania" sounds like just the place for me.

A list of teachers

Another list of possible topics, including one called "The Secret of Nathan". Sounds intriguing.

In the tab marked "Reading"

Nothing

In the tab marked "Math"

2 math worksheets and 2 number charts

Multiplication flash cards

(Boooring...)

In the tab marked "Art"

a large peice of paper cut into a shape sort of like a bow

An art project I don't quite comprehend, called a "mystery picture". Looks complicated.

In the tab marked "Unit"

A...uh...unit! Called "Light and Heat"

In the tab marked "Notebook"

A little homemade book decorated with magazine cut-outs of roses and malamutes, called "My Planner". The only thing written in it is "Wednesday".

A lot of little memo pads, the size of the palm of my hand

An address and memo pad, empty

A thing that looks like a SEX TOY (WTF!), but is in fact... (hold on while I invesigate this...) an enormous phallic-looking eraser. Doesn't look very ergonomic.

In the tab marked "Books"

Nothing

And finally, in the back

A roster of some sort, assigning roles to various kids for an elaborate recess pretending game. Headings are: "Name in the Real World " If They Have a File" (Don't ask me...) "Role" (there's a king, a queen, princes, princesses and a foster mom), "Name in Game" and "Age in Game" (ranges from 10,111,112 to 3 days old). My poor baby. She's only eight and she's already putting together spread sheets.

Art, with such titles as "Space Rocks!" "Flowers and Butterflies!!" "Jackson, the Horse" and "Griffon, age 1,001. Married for 907 years."

8 comments:

dive said...

Does Sara know about your blog, Kate?
If so, your ass it toast!

Amrita said...

I too had books and drawers in which i stored my stuff like this. its fun.

~ L said...

I recently saw a vocabulary page in my daughter's binder. She had to use each word in a sentence and her choices were very telling.

One said: "My parents once confiscated my iPod."

Uh, yeah...you were in BIG TROUBLE that weekend! (She conveniently forgot that part!)

Maria said...

I often feel as if I am about a thousand years old and have been married for 907 years.....

Unknown said...

that was fun...i think i'm going to do some snooping around and see what sort of interesting things i'd find in my 7 year old's room.
loved the first chapter of Whispers of the Wind =)

Anonymous said...

oh damn.... she sounds more organized than ME!!!

Weber said...

I agree with Dive...if Sara finds out you posted everything in her file, she won't talk to you for 5 years. I loved all of the contents!

Rebecca said...

I agree that if Sara finds out her folder went public, she'll be tres ennuyé :) that said, how funny was that!

I have long been of the belief that we as parents should have full access to our kids brains (thing Magic School Bus shrinking ray) for about 5 minutes a month. Might give some much needed context to some of what we find...

r.