What a momentous day! Thanks for sharing. As far as writing with a pen goes, my last gesture for my 3rd graders before I retired was to give them an envelope and teach them how to write my address and their return address (something we expect them to know how to do, but they don't). Then, over the summer, they were tasked with writing me a hand written letter- in cursive -- with the promise that I would write back. Crazy, right? Well it worked and I got a half-dozen heartwarming notes, pictures, etc. Letter writing is a lost art, especially in pen and in cursive. We need to keep it alive.
Posh would be crying happy tears now! There's undoubtedly a new lunchbox with a certain Kitty on it or other popular character filled with sticky peanut butter and jelly bits stuck on the inside. Good luck, Cakes, your sweet stick-figure drawings from school will cover Papa's frig door for years. And, if your teacher needs a guest to read a story to the class, you know who to call. ;o)
It's funny you reference Hough, my wife was an elementary school principal on the north end of town for 5 years. And since I'm old school, I'm still a pen guy, I have all kinds of nice ones, and now EDC every day carry ones with Fisher Space pen cartridges. My friends liken me to Jack Klompus from Seinfeld, but I always have a pen :)
Come on, Chris, I still write checks and letters! Of course, I still send Christmas cards, read print newspapers, and have a landline phone, so maybe I'm an outlier.
I’m still digesting you starting kindergarten at 3! The only thing I remember about Kinder is being a “late bird” so I got to annoy my mother all morning before crossing the street to school. My grands started last week, too. They are doing homeschool but still took the requisite 1st day photos. Their little sister’s sign said 1st day of teacher’s assistant. Cakes looks pretty comfortable with the whole thing already.
Wow. You started kindergarten before most kids these days start PreK. This explains your tremendous vocabulary and encyclopedic knowledge of obscure facts. You had a two year head start on the rest of us. And I thought I was such a smarty pants because I learned to read at age four. Thank you, Good Doctor Suess. Cakes will undoubtedly have your smarts and she can rock a tartan. With those cheeks, she's gonna rule the schoolyard. Congrats, Papa and her wonderful parents. Launch successful!
Chris, my brother was a December birthday and the last to get his license too. He hated that. There are always some drawbacks, but I think you actually learned to get along with others at a very early age, living by your wits, instead of physical prowess, no doubt. That is a life-long advantage.
Don’t feel bad. I didn’t get my drivers license until I was 19 (no $). The inspector had the audacity to say I drove “pretty good for a girl.” I parallel parked a 1966 VW split-window bus, heaven’s sake!
I felt that pain, Chris. We moved to another state in October of my junior year, the month I would turn 16. The new state required taking a drivers ed course — that wasn’t offered again until the spring — before I could even get a permit. I was nearly a senior when I got my license. Really cramped my social life. But I’m over it.
Aaaah, That first real step out the door, alone with unknown others, learning how to learn, how to learn with others, learn new ways of learning, at last on the way to becoming something unknown and as yet unformed in the world....I am lucky my lower jaw didn't come unhinged, so gap jawed was I. Pictures of the time radiated amazement rather than the pleased sense of success Catherine so luminously and prettily offers to the camera lens. In my case, the stunned wonder of the time has continued to this day. The attitudes about learning and the disciplines associated with it are the most valuable absorptions one can take away from this earliest exterior social experience. Socialization skills are, I think, the other substantial takeaway from this early time. The ABC's, numbers and their systems, etc., just pour into you like water when the other seminals are infused by an artful and adroit mentalist in such a wistful yet sometimes chaotic environment; and yes--for those that have not learned or had the opportunity to learn in the home environment, learning how to play in a self-rewarding way in a group is a skill one can enjoy for a lifetime. Oh! to be there and do it all again...
Aaaand stained by ink is a self-fulfilling prophecy for me, and always has been for as long as I can remember. Everything is originally written here longhand, the keyboard giving form and that second look--after a lengthy pause-later. I am the stained wretch of english literature, and my partner here ever reminds me of the ink marks--also pencil smudges, on bedclothes , clothing, furniture, various papers, and other surfaces here and about. Even wooden surfaces are not immune to faint verbal impressions. Sooty looking fingers are de reguerre evidence of some kind of permanent interior mental marking. Your case is mild. After all, you are an eminent, syndicated, widely read domestic journalist--a linguistic savant. What's a little ink now and then? I maintain that on the fingertips it improves one's sense of touch. Happy Labor Day weekend to you and your lovely, rousingly active gang!
Congrats to Cakes and Momma Cakes! It will be a success. I remember my first day at Kinder. The teacher was Miss Brown. I thought she was great -- she wore these suede shoes with ties that went up her ankles --- handed us autumn leaves, played the triangle (or something else)? I never forgot her but not any of the others till College!! I too am a pen freak! Can't explain it -- hope no one in this chat will recommend one I haven't tried!!! Best wishes for Cakes going forward -- love to hear more.
Great article. My mother sent me off, too, to Kindergarten by myself on the school bus. It was a last minute decision. She had planned to take me. We assembled in the gym to be assigned to our teachers, and I remember looking around and wondering why some of the kids were crying. I thought it was a great adventure. This was in 1956.
What a momentous day! Thanks for sharing. As far as writing with a pen goes, my last gesture for my 3rd graders before I retired was to give them an envelope and teach them how to write my address and their return address (something we expect them to know how to do, but they don't). Then, over the summer, they were tasked with writing me a hand written letter- in cursive -- with the promise that I would write back. Crazy, right? Well it worked and I got a half-dozen heartwarming notes, pictures, etc. Letter writing is a lost art, especially in pen and in cursive. We need to keep it alive.
Love that!
Awesome creative teaching, Steve!
Posh would be crying happy tears now! There's undoubtedly a new lunchbox with a certain Kitty on it or other popular character filled with sticky peanut butter and jelly bits stuck on the inside. Good luck, Cakes, your sweet stick-figure drawings from school will cover Papa's frig door for years. And, if your teacher needs a guest to read a story to the class, you know who to call. ;o)
It's funny you reference Hough, my wife was an elementary school principal on the north end of town for 5 years. And since I'm old school, I'm still a pen guy, I have all kinds of nice ones, and now EDC every day carry ones with Fisher Space pen cartridges. My friends liken me to Jack Klompus from Seinfeld, but I always have a pen :)
Remember everything I know I learned in kindergarten ? Wise words .
Come on, Chris, I still write checks and letters! Of course, I still send Christmas cards, read print newspapers, and have a landline phone, so maybe I'm an outlier.
So do I
Thanks for this, Chris. You made the retired teacher smile😉
I’m still digesting you starting kindergarten at 3! The only thing I remember about Kinder is being a “late bird” so I got to annoy my mother all morning before crossing the street to school. My grands started last week, too. They are doing homeschool but still took the requisite 1st day photos. Their little sister’s sign said 1st day of teacher’s assistant. Cakes looks pretty comfortable with the whole thing already.
Oh my gosh, Cakes in Catholic kindergarten!!! What joy! But how can you remember what you did in kinder at 3 years of age???? Great memory!!!
Wow. You started kindergarten before most kids these days start PreK. This explains your tremendous vocabulary and encyclopedic knowledge of obscure facts. You had a two year head start on the rest of us. And I thought I was such a smarty pants because I learned to read at age four. Thank you, Good Doctor Suess. Cakes will undoubtedly have your smarts and she can rock a tartan. With those cheeks, she's gonna rule the schoolyard. Congrats, Papa and her wonderful parents. Launch successful!
Thanks Caroll. It may also explain why I'm socially stunted. I was the last kid in our high school class to get his driver's license.
Chris, my brother was a December birthday and the last to get his license too. He hated that. There are always some drawbacks, but I think you actually learned to get along with others at a very early age, living by your wits, instead of physical prowess, no doubt. That is a life-long advantage.
Don’t feel bad. I didn’t get my drivers license until I was 19 (no $). The inspector had the audacity to say I drove “pretty good for a girl.” I parallel parked a 1966 VW split-window bus, heaven’s sake!
I felt that pain, Chris. We moved to another state in October of my junior year, the month I would turn 16. The new state required taking a drivers ed course — that wasn’t offered again until the spring — before I could even get a permit. I was nearly a senior when I got my license. Really cramped my social life. But I’m over it.
The family pics are outstanding! Really good stuff there.
My kindergarten teacher's name was Ms. Klopstein (sp?). I think I may have excelled at nap time.
Only whine was served.
Our grandson started kindergarten this week also. Also a Catholic school. He's a happy camper so far.
Hope Cakes has a splendid year! She certainly looks the part in her cute uniform! Blessings❤️
Hurrah Cakes 👏👏. Lead forward on the journey… Buffalo magic markers were my thing. Pricey but oh so pretty and a rainbow 🌈 of choices…
Aaaah, That first real step out the door, alone with unknown others, learning how to learn, how to learn with others, learn new ways of learning, at last on the way to becoming something unknown and as yet unformed in the world....I am lucky my lower jaw didn't come unhinged, so gap jawed was I. Pictures of the time radiated amazement rather than the pleased sense of success Catherine so luminously and prettily offers to the camera lens. In my case, the stunned wonder of the time has continued to this day. The attitudes about learning and the disciplines associated with it are the most valuable absorptions one can take away from this earliest exterior social experience. Socialization skills are, I think, the other substantial takeaway from this early time. The ABC's, numbers and their systems, etc., just pour into you like water when the other seminals are infused by an artful and adroit mentalist in such a wistful yet sometimes chaotic environment; and yes--for those that have not learned or had the opportunity to learn in the home environment, learning how to play in a self-rewarding way in a group is a skill one can enjoy for a lifetime. Oh! to be there and do it all again...
Aaaand stained by ink is a self-fulfilling prophecy for me, and always has been for as long as I can remember. Everything is originally written here longhand, the keyboard giving form and that second look--after a lengthy pause-later. I am the stained wretch of english literature, and my partner here ever reminds me of the ink marks--also pencil smudges, on bedclothes , clothing, furniture, various papers, and other surfaces here and about. Even wooden surfaces are not immune to faint verbal impressions. Sooty looking fingers are de reguerre evidence of some kind of permanent interior mental marking. Your case is mild. After all, you are an eminent, syndicated, widely read domestic journalist--a linguistic savant. What's a little ink now and then? I maintain that on the fingertips it improves one's sense of touch. Happy Labor Day weekend to you and your lovely, rousingly active gang!
Congrats to Cakes and Momma Cakes! It will be a success. I remember my first day at Kinder. The teacher was Miss Brown. I thought she was great -- she wore these suede shoes with ties that went up her ankles --- handed us autumn leaves, played the triangle (or something else)? I never forgot her but not any of the others till College!! I too am a pen freak! Can't explain it -- hope no one in this chat will recommend one I haven't tried!!! Best wishes for Cakes going forward -- love to hear more.
Great article. My mother sent me off, too, to Kindergarten by myself on the school bus. It was a last minute decision. She had planned to take me. We assembled in the gym to be assigned to our teachers, and I remember looking around and wondering why some of the kids were crying. I thought it was a great adventure. This was in 1956.