The Passing of the Arrowheads

My son is, as of the end of the last day of school today, is a rising “Third Year” in his class.  This is traditionally known as “Third Grade” in non-Montessori terms.   He will be one of the leaders in his class next year with the First and Second Year students looking up to him.   He is very proud of this new responsibility and in a way, can’t wait for school to start in the fall.

A tradition in his class is the passing of the arrowheads.   Each arrowhead has a special meaning and is held by each of the third years.   When the year ends and the students graduate on to another classroom, they pass on their arrowhead to a rising third year on the last day of school.   There were eight third years this year but next year there will only be four so my son received two arrowheads.   I asked him if that meant he had twice the responsibilities as a class leader?  He gave us a long explanation of things that didn’t really answer the question other than giving us a good feel of how excited he is.

The half-day at school was not without incident though.   As we drove to the end of year party at a local park after noon pickup, my son told us, "A lot of people cried.  It was a sad day because some friends were leaving. But I held my own.  What I did was I just thought of the people that are going to upper elementary and how I’ll still see them next year.”   He went on to explain which people cried the most.

I thought that was the end of it until we got in the car to go home after the park.   Suddenly my son realized all the people he wouldn’t be seeing in the future.   There were three students who were leaving to go to another school.   One of his teachers is changing jobs to work at a school closer to where she lives due to a long commute and our Head of School is retiring.   He started crying and was very upset, thinking how he might never see some of these friends he’s known for years, again.   We talked about play dates and birthday parties and that there was no reason he couldn’t see his friends again.   He was pretty broken up.  He’s a sweet little guy.

Hi-Float Update:  Remember that balloon I inflated five days ago?  A latex balloon which typically has a 12-16 hour float time?   It’s still floating and from the looks of it it’s going to stay up for another day or two.   I was skeptical about the product when I ordered it.  I have gone from a skeptic to a fan.

The Big Boy Update:  My son got angry this afternoon, ran up and slammed the door to their room.   We’ve been planning on a consequence for this type of behavior (that both he and his sister do from time to time) because it’s unsafe.   Someone could get caught in the slamming, or the dog could.   We’re going to start removing the door from it’s hinges for a few days when they do this.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has become an expert at Dungeons & Dragons on Alexa.   She knows all the shortcuts, upgrades and is getting pretty good at strategy too.   It reminds me of when I played as a youth—only without pencil and paper.