kindergarten worksheet, mini-rant

Ds1, age 6, comes home with a kindy worksheet about "Mammal Babies".
They had to cut out the pictures of baby deer, bear, kangaroo and human
and glue them next to the picture of the appropriate mother. Picture
with human baby had a bottle lying next to it, picture with human mother
was carrying a diaper bag with a bottle sticking out. Grrr.

I'm not asking for the picture to show boobs and obvious bf (although
Mr. Rogers did), but couldn't they have just left out the bottles?
What's the point of teaching them the scientific fact that we are
mammals, only to cloud the issue of the biologic reason for the
existance of breasts? It can be hard to get a straight answer out of ds
about what goes on at school, but it seems they discussed the "hair all
over the body" aspect of being a mammal, but not the "feeds milk to its
live-born babies" factor. We had our teaching moment about it while
discussing today's school papers, but do I have to call the school
*again* to pester them about yet another grievance... (My favorite was
the substitute doing the T-giving lesson plan who taught them that
"Indians live in teepees.")

-Karen, mom to Henry 6 bf until 4.5 and William 2 no sign of weaning-

In article . net,
dkhedmo wrote:

Ds1, age 6, comes home with a kindy worksheet about "Mammal Babies".
They had to cut out the pictures of baby deer, bear, kangaroo and human
and glue them next to the picture of the appropriate mother. Picture
with human baby had a bottle lying next to it, picture with human mother
was carrying a diaper bag with a bottle sticking out. Grrr.

Gaaaahhhhhhh!

Yours disgustedly,

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

"dkhedmo" wrote in message
ink.net...
Ds1, age 6, comes home with a kindy worksheet about "Mammal Babies". They
had to cut out the pictures of baby deer, bear, kangaroo and human and
glue them next to the picture of the appropriate mother. Picture with
human baby had a bottle lying next to it, picture with human mother was
carrying a diaper bag with a bottle sticking out. Grrr.


I would take the kindergarten to task on this obvious misrepresentation of
the facts! What next? Will they be speaking out against the theory of
evolution?

From www.wikipedia.org -
"The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals characterized by the
presence of mammary glands, which in females produce milk for the
nourishment of young; the presence of hair or fur; and endothermic or
"warm-blooded" bodies."

Mammals are -named- for their ability to produce milk to nourish their
young, a fact which has obviously escaped the illustrator of the
aforementioned worksheet. Here is what I would do: Find a nice photo,
clip-art or line drawing of a baby breastfeeding, and glue it to the human
mother.
If subtle is your modus operandi, simply Twink out the bottles. Either way,
explain the error to your DS to undo any damage this 'lesson' has caused,
and so that he can enlighten the other children. If you feel it's necessary,
enclose a note for the teacher with your DS' worksheet.


--
Amy
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
http://www.freewebs.com/carlos2002/
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/ana%5Fj%5F2004/
My blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/querer-hijo-querer-hija/

"Mum of Two" wrote and I snipped:
"dkhedmo" wrote in message
ink.net...
Ds1, age 6, comes home with a kindy worksheet about "Mammal Babies". They
had to cut out the pictures of baby deer, bear, kangaroo and human and
glue them next to the picture of the appropriate mother. Picture with
human baby had a bottle lying next to it, picture with human mother was
carrying a diaper bag with a bottle sticking out. Grrr.

Mammals are -named- for their ability to produce milk to nourish their
young, a fact which has obviously escaped the illustrator of the
aforementioned worksheet. Here is what I would do: Find a nice photo,
clip-art or line drawing of a baby breastfeeding, and glue it to the human
mother.

I am appalled as well that a worksheet on mammals would show a baby with a
bottle. It just doesn't make sense. What are they teaching?

I love your suggestion, Amy. It's brilliant.

-Patty, mom of 1+2

dkhedmo wrote:

What's the point of teaching them the scientific fact that we are
mammals, only to cloud the issue of the biologic reason for the
existance of breasts? It can be hard to get a straight answer out of ds
about what goes on at school, but it seems they discussed the "hair all
over the body" aspect of being a mammal, but not the "feeds milk to its
live-born babies" factor.

That's just so wrong.

I like Amy's suggestion!

--
C, mama to three year old nursling