winner

There used to be more competition in Elementary school.  We had letter grades in 1st grade.  We did 'Whiz Kid' reports and got a ranking that came with a color-coded button you could wear around, like you belonged to an elite club in the school.  There was that water conservation poster contest I took 2nd in, in the 6th grade (blast that Lee Shun and his poster that beat me out!) We knew who the top students were in spelling and math and reading.

And, in my 4th grade class, there was the Valentine's Day Box Contest.

Everyone made a box, as creative as possible, and the teacher chose a winner.  The prize was prestige, maybe a certificate, and {drum roll please} a glitter pen; a pen whose shaft was full of water and glitter which swirled and swayed when you shook it.  It was a treasure to behold. 

My idea for a Valentine's box was really more like a sculpture.  I used saved strawberry baskets (the little green square ones they used to use).  I stacked them up like a pyramid, paper mached the whole thing, and painted it to look like a dice tower.  Don't ask me where I got this idea.  Or why I thought a stack of dice had anything to do with Valentine's Day.  Or why I'd use messy paper mache (which, by the way, got me quarantined to the basement and the little piece of linoleum I couldn't ruin with my project) instead of something reasonable and elementary-school-ish like construction paper.

Whatever the reasons, the result did the trick.  I won.
And, I loved that pen.

 

My kiddos had a GREAT time making their Valentine's Day boxes this year.  They did most of the work themselves while I was busy with the Littles, and were so proud of their finished products.  No awards were given in their classes, but I would give them both a glitter pen, if I had some!

Because now days, they aren't so competitive in Elementary School.