LEWISTON — For a Thanksgiving Day feature, I and a photographer visited a McMahon Elementary School classroom to interview kindergarten students about the holiday.
Near the teacher’s desk was a little desk with a sign that read: “Class boss.”
A poster also declared that on that day, Mohamud was the class boss.
What is a class boss?
Teacher Laura Grover explained that it’s a coveted position that all of her pupils take turns serving. The honor involves sitting next to the teacher all day and acting as the teacher’s assistant, she said.
“They get to be the line leader,” Grover said. “They get to give out snacks. They pass out all the papers. They’re in charge of the lights.”
Talk about power.
And they get to run the “math calendar.” To do that, “they get to be up here,” Grover said, showing where they stand in front of the class.
As the class discusses the day of the week and does counting, the boss leads the class, Grover said. Students spell out the current month. They count. “We talk about the days of the week, what day is today.”
They discuss how many days they’ve been in school.
It’s a great idea, an early education lesson in leadership. I can see it leading to future candidates for office.
— Bonnie Washuk
3 more weeks ’til winter?
The calendar says Saturday, so winter is still three weeks away.
What? Haven’t we been in winter for what feels like a month already?
Lewiston-Auburn schools using three snow days in November is far from the norm. In fact, Superintendent Bill Webster tweeted a list of the snow days in recent years, and said in 13 years Lewiston has never used a snow day in November.
Let’s hope December, January, February and March aren’t so bad, but it’s a long way to spring.
— Bonnie Washuk
The “class boss” has a desk next to the kindergarten teacher at Lewiston’s McMahon Elementary School. (Bonnie Washuk/Sun Journal)
On a recent day a student named Mohamud was the “class boss” of the day in a kindergarten class at Lewiston’s McMahon Elementary School. (Bonnie Washuk/Sun Journal)
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