Brilliant

Solanne had homework this week, which for a kindergartener has the potential to be a drag, but she loved it. She had to prepare a book report (of a sort) and a presentation to go along with it.

It was only last night that I realised that her teacher, Madame A, had set up the class precisely so that Solanne, and her classmates, would get excited about homework. For Solanne, it's a privilege to present her book to her friends; she's the only one allowed to do it on her big day as Petit Coeur.

Here's how it works: at the beginning of the year, Madame A set up a routine of a having a daily "Petit Coeur" (little heart). Each child had their turn at being Petit Coeur, and the role comes with some serious perks: the child gets to lead circle time, bring the attendance sheet to the office with the friend of their choice, skip nap time, have the pick of what activities she wants to do... and the list goes on. For the first two months, that's all it was.

By December, each child got to bring something in to present when they were Petit Coeur. Last month, they got to prepare a "science experiment." Solanne brought in oil, water, and syrup and poured them all into the same container and showed how one floated on the other; a first exploration of density. This month, Solanne got to pick her favourite (French) book and complete a sheet: title, author, illustrator, favourite character. And she had to prepare a presentation on it. This is the basic format that she'll have to do in Grade 1 next year, once per week, with library books. And she was so excited about doing it.

Of course, there's no guarantee that she'll still love these book reports next year, but Madame A is at least setting up favourable conditions for her to enjoy it and get interested in it. There are no guarantees with kids anyway, so I'm just soaking this up now and am happy to watch Solanne's face light up as she practices her presentation for tomorrow.