Observation Chair

This is the email I had to send this evening to Matt's teacher:

Hi Laurie,

Tonight at dinner Matt very matter of factly started telling us about the
Observation Chair. When he first started, I thought it was going to be a good
thing, but soon realized that the Observation Chair is not the place to be sent!
He went on to tell us that he was sent there because he was making armpit
noises.

Even though I was trying not to laugh (fortunately he never saw me), I am
concerned that he's making some poor choices at school. Please do not hesitate
to email if you see that he's acting inappropriately more often than not! We
are disappointed that this happened and really trying to work with him on making good choices.

Thanks,
Hilary and Brian

(Not sure why blogger copied and pasted with odd line breaks, but I didn't feel like retyping it.)

No joke. I just copied and pasted that baby into my post. As Matt started to talk about the Observation Chair, a new thing in his classroom, I thought it was going to be a special place that kids could go sit and work quietly, read to themselves, write in their journals, and reflect on their learning. How wrong was I? The OC is a 2009 version of a Time Out chair, and Matt got to break it in on its first day in his classroom.

Supper included a very serious conversation tonight!

**UPDATE**

Reply from Matt's teacher:

I chuckled when I read your email.  I can just imagine Matt telling the story at  dinner.  I love first graders.    I just started the idea of the observation chair yesterday as a way to keep from  interrupting my guiding reading lesson to deal with behavior issues.  Matt and  another boy were in between activities and the other boy was demonstrating the  arm pit noise technique to Matt and Matt was trying it out.     I think this was an isolated incident for Matt, but I'll be sure to let you know  if I see a trend.    Overall, Matt is usually well-behaved and respectful.  I enjoy him so much.    Have a good day.