The Garden School Tattler

Picture is part of the cyclotron my son and his crew are installing in Oklahoma. It will painlessly and successfully treat inoperable and otherwise un-treatable cancers especially in children. By the grace of God, none of our children will ever face this machine.

At the Garden School:

It's been such a busy few weeks around the Garden School, it's hard to get to work now without a dozen things pressing. The kids are browning nicely in the hide and seek sun. We are hoping for some sun on Friday for our trip to Audubon Park. It should be a nice day at about 70 degrees.

At home we are re-learning lines. It's amazing how tough it is to learn to stand in a line. It's one of the things the K-1s really need to know to go off to first grade successfully because they will spend a lot of time in line next year. Standing quietly in a line without drifting, talking, punching, getting out of line to attend to a number of details like checking out a car that's been left out, or coming to the kitchen to ask what's for lunch, or going to see who is still in the bathroom is probably the hardest thing kids have tackled in a long time. It goes something like this:

"Line up!!!"

Fifty percent of kids run the other way.

"Line up!!!"

Ten race for the fence knocking three of the kids down who immediately burst into tears. "He hurt me; he cutted; she won't let me be first," struggle, struggle, struggle, hit, waaaaaah; "Miss Judy, Miss Judy!"

"Line up on a red spot!" The red spots number about 25 and are on the walkway between the green door and the playground.

"The red spots?"

"The red spots you've been lining up on for a year. Find a red spot."

Half the kids turn to find a red spot on the playground. Those who find a red spot want the first one and begin to struggle, struggle, struggle, hit, waaaaaah; Miss Judy, Miss Judy."

"Stand quietly; face the green door; hands at sides; no talking; no drifting; no sitting; no taking shoes off; just stand in a nice perfect column." We don't use row, because in math a row goes across not up and down.

Five minutes later the first five children are standing quietly, and they can go in to wash their hands. "Take your jackets off; go to the bathroom; wash your hands to the elbows; and go to circle time."

All the children come forward to be on the front spots. Another three or four minutes pass and the first five children get quiet and can go in. It takes about 15 minutes to get them all in line, wash and seated in circle time.

Why not just send them in as a group? Because chaos is never the solution to anything. Making a line at the swimming pool in order to get a count will be tough if they don't know how to line up.

In a crowded place this summer, an immediate line will mean a lot. The inability to make a line could mean the difference between taking kids one place and another. A child who cannot understand getting himself into a line will not be able to go on a field trip. Can you imagine what it would be like to try to corral 40 children at the swimming pool if no one knew what it meant to "Line up?"

"Lines are quiet places," you hear teachers call out. That's because when a child talks, he is not paying attention to what he is doing. He will aggravate the child in front or behind him and there will be a fight, so lines work better when there is silence.

Think of all the places we naturally make lines: grocery store, movie tickets, clothing store, cues at the mall for food, getting on a plane, traffic - the roads are lines.

And learning to make those lines are not very human friendly, but so necessary and start at three with "Line up!"