She loves me...She loves me not...

Although Maya's first year of school has been pretty uneventful, I find myself wondering what it is like inside that classroom every day.  Although I have spent the better part of 6 years at home with Maya Jo and know her every move before she makes it, I can't help but wonder what my little girl is like when she's away from my watchful eye.

Maya brings home her folder every Monday with all the previous week's work graded, and we spend the better part of an hour scrutinizing every piece of paper found within that folder.  Maya loves that time, as do I.  What I have learned is that Maya talks more freely about school time when she can control the conversation, instead of just answering my questions.  These pages give me a window into her classroom.  Maya Jo very proud of her work, and even enjoys the 'Extra Practice' pages Mrs. B. sends home with her so that she can work on her new cursive letters.  She has now read four books, and she has proudly lined them up on her desk in the play room.  Yes, Maya loves school, and all the benefits from learning to read and write.

On most occasions, inside Maya's folder I find that Mrs. B. has written notes on a couple of pages that lets me know how she's coming along with her school work.  For the most part, I see notes like, "Good job!" or "You can do better!" or something along those lines.  Maya, of course, reads those notes to me.  Occasionally, however there is a note that gives me a very clear picture of what is really going on.  For example, a few weeks ago, on the top of one of her papers were these words written inMrs. B' neatly lettered red pencil: "I love you too, Maya Jo!"  I asked Maya  why Mrs. B. would write that on her paper, and she showed me that on the back of almost every piece of work, she had written, "I ♥ miss  boss (that is how Mrs. B's name sounds to her!) in her best cursive writing.  Since then, I find that more often than not, those love notes are written on the back of her work.  

On a side note, I should mention that Maya Jo wears her heart on her sleeve…if she likes you, you know it.  If she doesn’t…well, that’s not too hard to figure out either.  :)

Last week, however, when Maya brought home her coveted folder, there were no notes to Mrs. B. on any of her papers.  “That’s odd,” I thought.  I wonder what happened?  As I thought about the previous week, it hit me.  On Tuesday, library day, I received a call from Mrs. B. explaining to me that Maya Jo had broken one of the library rules that day.  (Uh oh.)  And not only that, but that she had hit another girl because she was going to tell the librarian what Maya had done.  (I think we’re getting closer!)  I should also mention that Mrs. B. made this phone call from her desk, making sure Maya, and her classmates, heard every word of our conversation.  (Jackpot!)

Yes, I think this explains that absence of those endearing notes to her beloved teacher.  And this week?  Well...I guess we'll see on Monday when Maya brings home her folder.  I'm going to go on a limb and predict that the love is back, because Maya has informed several people this week that she is going to be a teacher when she grows up...a kindergarten teacher.