I've visited the principal's office on occasion, and met Fran, the secretary there. That gal's having a time with a couple of goldies she adopted. They need classroom management. The bigger fish keeps trying to take a nibble out of the smaller one, which is driving Fran frantic. And goodness knows Fran has a heart of gold.
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Let's face it - common fish like me might look easy-peasy but we take time and energy. Each week, Gail scrubs my bowl and polishes my decorative blue and green bottom-rocks.
Our relationship isn't anything to shake a fin at. I've been Gail's class pet for the past 13 years, since she first wrote her name on the board as a kindergarten teacher. Three years after that, Gail found her real passion with preschoolers, and took up the torch Mary Beth Huxel passed along to her as the director of The Growing Place Preschool.
Being in the classroom with Gail for such a long time, it's obvious she really likes her job, and appreciates her longtime teaching partner Sandy Knickmeyer. They're more fun to watch than an octopus in a wave pool.
I see them working their magic with the 15 students they have in their charge from 7:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Monday through Thursday. Preschool isn't what it used to be - no naps for the kiddies or down time for Gail and Sandy-it's go, go, go, learning letters, responsibility, character education, community service. Their class of 3- to 5-year-olds is encouraged to have their own voice, a voice that is heard.
From my bowl, I can see the board and the kids' daily schedule: class meeting, journals, center time, recess, hand washing and snack, story time, music, goodbye. Whew! Makes me happy to just float around and skim the surface for the fish food the kiddies sprinkle in my bowl. That's one of their class jobs, like being a line leader, ringing the bell and watering the plants. Ê
For a goldfish, I'm pretty old, but I don't consider myself a senior. The students keep me young at heart. Preschool graduates from years gone by perk up at the mere mention of my name.
Fish travel in schools, and I know my way around the Washington School District. Gail and I have shared classroom space at South Point, Augusta, Washington West and now Fifth Street School. But wherever we go the students are peachy keen, and happy as clams to care for me, to peek in my bowl and pay attention to Gail's instructions not to stroke my pearly scales.
Flipper - I earned that name one day when I flipped right out of the water. Before that, whenever Gail would welcome a new group of students, she'd let them decide what my name would be. For a while I was Goldie - sweet, but too generic. That's why I decided to do gymnastics in my bowl.
Going airborne worked and now Flipper fits me to a T.
So does my new pad at Fifth Street School. Actually, anywhere Gail hangs her hat, is home to me. And thanks to the little ones, I'll always be in the swim of things. Even if my backstroke gets arthritic, it's safe to say my future is golden.
