Jet as Marc Brown

This past Monday, Jet had a program at school. It was part of a book report project. First he had to pick a famous person. Then he had to get that person approved, find a book about that person, and read it. Next, he had to fill in an outline of important facts about that person. Then make a poster with photos or drawings and important and interesting facts about that person. Next he had to memorize a 1 1/2 minute piece where he talked as if he were that person, sharing facts about that person's life. Finally, he had to dress up as that person and recite his memorized piece in front of his teacher, his classmates, his parents, his classmate's parents and his classmate's noisy younger siblings. The program is called "The Time Machine" since they all pretend to actually be the person they have learned about, coming forward from the past.

It was Jet's first major school project. And I am so happy that he is old enough now to have major school projects. You know, the kind that the child can't possibly do entirely on his own so the parents have to get involved at least a little bit. Sigh. (Yes, I know they are valuable and educational and sometimes even somewhat fun. I am just lazy and don't like having homework now that I've graduated from college. I still love learning about things. For example, I recently watched a show about Anne Frank aired on T.V. in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day and then read The Diary of Anne Frank again and then researched about all kinds of things related to World War II and the holocaust and went on to read two related books. But on my own schedule with no deadlines thank-you-very-much.)

So back to Jet. He chose Marc Brown, the author of the Arthur books, among other books. Marc Brown is actually still alive so he didn't really need a time machine but that's O.K. I really enjoyed this school program because it was interesting. Atom was with me and even he was entertained by it. The kids all did a great job. But of course, Jet did the best of all of them. :) I wish I had a way to load video clips from my camera but alas, I don't. Because he did a great job--he didn't forget his part or get lost and he didn't even look nervous and he spoke in a loud, clear voice. And our finicky video camera actually favored us by working so I got it all recorded. But I don't have a way to load it, so you'll just have to settle with a few lousy photos from our not-so-great camera (although I am very grateful for its digitalness.)

This is him waiting nervously for his turn (he is sitting next to Clara Barton):

And this is him after his successful finish (that's his teacher snapping his photo):

He took a few Arthur books and a D.W. stuffed animal to hold as props but he forgot and left them in his classroom. Great job, Jet.