School Memories

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

30 Apr 2007 01:17 PM

We only have a few weeks left before the end of the school year. Desks are getting cleaned out. Already, my third graders backpacks are full of papers, reports, and art projects. The stack on the table grows larger each day. I have a friend who neatly organizes her children's papers into school year and subject. Sigh. I'm not nearly that organized. And I don't have room to keep everything.

I try to save the big stuff, especially the creative stuff. Things like short stories, or poetry. Art projects always get saved. I also try to keep a few math papers and spelling tests. Our school is very big on writing skills. Every year the children keep journal at school. I absolutely keep those. It's fun to look back at what they did and what they considered important enough to write about.

My main trouble is where to keep all of these papers. Take three kids and a few years of school and you have a huge stack. I've been looking at portfolios, manuscript boxes, and memory boxes. I want something big enough so that the papers can lay flat. Some of the art projects are on 11 x 13 paper, so I need big boxes.

Why am I keeping these things? For memories. And to show the kids that every time in their life was cherished. Besides, it makes a great rainy day project to go back through the papers. My kids love to see their old stuff. It brings back memories of teachers, and classmates, and things they learned. They marvel over their tiny handprints. They are amazed that they once couldn't spell 'school' or 'tiger' or even 'today'. They groan with embarrassment that they once loved Barney and Arthur and Blues Clues. I think that's probably a nice lesson in having tolerance for their younger cousins' taste in television.

Almost time to pick up my boys. I wonder what they'll bring home today?

Also see:

Preserving Children's Artwork

Scrapbooking - School Layouts

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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Lyn Newton (3966) 03 May 2007 09:27 AM

Great ideas!

Lauri Griffin (2703) 04 May 2007 04:58 AM

Anything to keep that stack of papers from taking over!

Thanks, Karri!