Beth & Phantasma Week, Zombie Interlude

Subject: Classroom updates and new unit

Greetings, parents!

My name is Meredith Thomas and I am your child’s 6th grade English and Literature teacher.  I apologize for not starting an email list sooner. As many of you may be aware, I recently returned from maternity leave; I thank you for all the warm wishes you sent to my husband and me after the birth of our child!  Now that I am officially back to work and have been able to reconnect with the children, I have am hoping to send you classroom updates and announcements on a regular basis, much like you already receive from my colleague, Beth Fisher.  And I am hoping you are all familiar with the eBoard program. I will also be using that on a regular basis.

Since I have been gone for most of the year, I wanted to let the children have some fun and chose what to study in our next Literature unit.  The children had many wonderful suggestions, but one student was quite verbally adamant about wishing to study a particular subject, an idea that she says was influenced by her mother.  We took a class vote and this subject won-- Zombies.

I know many students have already shared their enthusiasm with this idea, and that many of the parents have concerns. Mrs. Wolstein has already contacted me personally to voice some of these concerns on behalf of several parents.  I want to assure you now that I am not entirely comfortable with the subject matter, but I also wish to respect the wishes of the students and honor their classroom vote. 

I feel I have a compromise.  There is a new young readers series about “Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie” by David Lubar. The story involves a young man who partakes in a science experiment with his friend.  The results turn him into a ‘zombie’ or sorts. I think this will be a good series for the children to read. It involves school cliques, growing up, and will hopefully inspire some conversations about life and death that can be covered in an educational environment. 

I openly welcome any questions or comments from parents.  Despite what one child suggested, we will not be watching any horror films or other frightening zombie films.  I feel this is not appropriate for children.  If you so chose, you may allow your children to watch these things at home, but please teach them it is not allowed that they bring adult materials to school. I’ve already had to confiscate an issue of some sort of comic called The Walking Dead.  It will be returned to the student’s parents at conference time. 

I look forward to a productive rest of the school year; it is nice to be back!

Yours in education, M. Thomas

In case you couldn't figure it out, yes, Phantasma voiced the zombie thing. I knew about this before the email because once Phantasma got home from school, she ranted about Tessa Wolstein and her pea-sized mind for about a half hour. Tessa said zombies were "creepy."

If I was a good parent, I would've told Phantasma that everyone's entitled to their opinion and got her to calm down somehow. She's strongly opinionated in an angry old man fashion, which isn't needed on one so young. There's no doubt that she gets her mouth and her rants from my side of the family since it's a dominant Gregoire trait.

Also, I don't know how I feel about Meredith Thomas, to be told. I've dealt with teachers who are MIA for half the school year. I'll be keeping an eye on you Meredith, yes I will.