Stardom Week - Part 1

This is Part One of a Nine Part Series

When I checked J's homework folder last Friday, I had no idea I would be setting in motion a chain of events that would by the weekend among other things make me physically ill. There was the weekly report stating the usual "J had a great week" with all parameters for a successful kindergarten week marked "Met or exceeded expectations". There was also a flyer letting me know that it would be J's turn to be the "Kindergarten Star Of The Week" the following week.

A list of activities was outlined from Monday to Thursday. The goal was to give each child in class a chance to shine and be the cynosure of attention for a whole week. I thought it was a wonderful idea and set to work on our assignment for Monday enthusiastically. I was tasked with helping her to make a poster about herself to bring and share with the class. Interestingly enough, J had never mentioned anyone's poster until then.

I had heard about the favorite book and favorite snack scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of the "Star Week". Probing a little about the poster, I found out that the kids typically had pictures of themselves, family members, pets and toys among other things. Mrs. H had them walk up the front of the class and present it.

After that, she and the class might ask some questions. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to teach J how to make a photo collage and coach her on some basic presentation skills. It may be argued that I acted like an over zealous parent in spending all Sunday afternoon helping her put this poster together. This would be the kind of "non-academic enrichment" that Mrs H and the guidance counselor had said J would benefit from.

We pored through her old albums and found a picture of her with my grandmother who died a couple of months ago. This became the centerpiece of our collage. Around it were other pictures of her early childhood when I had gone back to India, including a couple from her Annaprashan. We talked about the many places we've lived and traveled in the past five years of my nomadic life.

J's memory has faded in parts but she was excited to glue the images of the couple of dozen cities on her poster amazed that she had actually been to all those places in the past five years of her life. The labors of my imagination and J's hard work resulted in something rather nice. She was pleased with it and told me proudly "No one else in my class had so many things on their poster". That evening, we did a little role play trading Mrs H and J roles so she knew how to present it to the class. We both went to sleep tired but happy looking forward to Monday morning.