Projects!

Braxton has had MANY projects in 4th grade. The most recent one was an essay about Wasatch County. Now creating this assignment has quite the story behind it. Should I share? Yep, I'm going to. So Ms. Mair is one of those "strict" teachers. At parent-teacher conference, I almost feel like I am one of her students. She seems to be-little you just a bit, but whatever. Alright, so the assignment is discussed at parent-teacher conference (actually MANY assignments are discussed), the county assignment is due in March- this gives us some time to research and think about it. Little did I know that Ms. Mair's rules of how the assignment should be completed would change several times.

Last Saturday Brax and I sit down to get this thing done. I have the guidelines- 12 pt font, double space and what each paragraph should consist of. Luckily Wasatch County is Moab and the Arches, etc so it is a pretty good county. Internet searching and typing up the essay (2.5 pages) took about 2 hours- not bad, right? While reading the guidelines provided by Ms. Mair there are two of the paragraphs that say "make a picture of the scenery and another that says make a picture of an activity done in your county" this is the kicker "THE PAPER SIZE IS VERY IMPORTANT" and it states that the paper is attached- nope not on Braxton's. Maybe at one point it was but not anymore. I email Ms. Mair about this "important sized paper" and she replied that it is a regular white piece of paper (why doesn't the instructions just say that!). And then to relieve the tension in her emails she always ends it with a "Smiles! Ms. Mair"- I don't feel like smiling.

Monday rolls around and Brax brings home an "example" of what the report should look like. The paragraphs are freakn' numbered! I email Ms. Mair and see if an essay format will do since this is how we completed it. I receive an email back telling me the importance of numbering the paragraphs... yadda yadda. Signed, "Smiles! Ms. Mair". Some people who are reading this may think it is not a huge issue- just number them right? (Please read my previous posting! I have little to no time these days to re-do homework assignments)

The night before I thought the project was due (yep, I procrastinate) Brax gets out his art set and I show him how to draw a desert bush and arch, etc. Brax does a wonderful job getting this done and I can finally be relieved of this 4th grade project and anticipate the next. The next morning, I run downstairs to get a folder for Braxton's project so it will stay nice in his un-organized backpack. I come upstairs to find Braxton cutting his pictures in half! What the ....... So I not so calmly ask Brax why he is doing that, he says that it is a flip book and that is the size of his flip book. I find the guidelines of the project and ask Brax how many times it says "The paper size is very important"- he tells me it says it twice. I ask him, "So do you think the paper size is very important?" We discuss for a little while and I explain that I am not willing (yes, this has now become MY assignment and I have taken ownership of it) be docked points because the pictures are cut in half. He reluctantly sits down to make two new pictures but insists on taking the cut ones as well- whatever. Lets go, lets go, lets go- it is morning and we are on a time schedule.

Brax heads to the bus stop but of course shortly returns saying "I missed the bus". He actually has never missed the bus, which is wonderful but after the morning we were having, it was just icing on the cake. I drove Brax to school and their wasn't much talking until we got close- then my cute little boy thanked me several times for taking him to school and apologized for missing the bus- oh! He melts me sometimes. He gave me a kiss and was off with his Wasatch County essay, two full size pictures and 4 half size freshly cut pictures in hand.

It gets just a little better- that night I asked Brax how his essay went and if he got it turned in. He told me that Ms. Mair extended the deadline. SMILES!