Second grade is notorious for assigning projects that seem to grade the parents rather than the children. Projects that no second grader could possibly successfully complete by themselves ;) The notorious project when Ben was in second grade was to construct a working musical instrument that had to be able to play multiple notes and couldn't be glasses filled with different levels of water and hit with a mallet ;) The assignment was given when Caroline was around a month or so old, and I was entirely otherwise occupied and sleep deprived. After looking on Youtube for a bit I told Ben to bring home a straw from the school cafeteria and we would cut holes in it to make a flute. When Ben presented his project -- which he couldn't get to produce a note when asked to demonstrate -- the teacher asked him, "How long did it take you to do this project?" And my poor Ben, not realizing this wasn't a speed contest, proudly replied, "About five minutes!" He -- or should I say I -- got a D. Yes, they give letter grade assignments on these projects.
In subsequent years the musical instrument project was scrapped in favor of making a model of a community building as part of a social studies unit on the different types of communities (urban, suburban, rural). Rebecca was assigned a police station. I would like to say that this time I spent considerably more than five minutes on the project, AND I BETTER GET AN A. I mean, Rebecca better get an A.
Here is my sleep-deprived child, ready to head to school this morning with her project.
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