Monday's Fun on Halloween

We had a spooktacular time today. The children came in beautiful costumes. They could not have looked cuter. So proud of them. Every child behaved beautifully. We left early early and arrived at our first nursing home in Boonville at 9:30. We brought a huge bag of gifts for the residents that the children collected all month. The residents gave all the kids candy and the children thanked everyone and deposited the candy in a bag to be divided later. We sang several songs and then visited with the elderly. It was a great visit!

We moved on to another home in Boonville and were greeted by some really nice people who took the children's presents to distribute to the residents. We sang, collected candy and were photographed standing by their Halloween display.

We moved on to our last nursing home in Boonville and were greeted in the dining room. This was splendid. The children did a great job singing and gathering treats.

We then went to a nice nursing home in Evansville and brought our presents and were treated with lots and lots of candy. We sang our songs and kissed and hugged and said "Happy Halloween" and then boarded the bus for school.

We probably received twenty pounds of candy which Miss Lisa and Miss Amy separated into separate bags for the kids.

We had a wonderful pizza lunch and then played until our little party. We had chocolate cupcakes and milk. It was a really nice day.

Monday's Tattler

Today is Halloween and we will all be dressing up.

Please send your child to school in his or her costume today.

Please do not send masks or weapons to school.

Children should be wearing comfortable shoes. Your child may have his face painted.

Your child needs to be at school by 9:00 to leave on the nursing home field trip.

We will be returning to school by 12:30 for a pizza party.

School dismisses at 4:00 today. Please pick up your child by 4:00.

Halloween at the GS

Friday is not Halloween. Friday, October 29, we will be going to Willard Library for ghost stories and a tour of the library. We will come back to school to eat pizza and carve pumpkins. Regular dismissal.

ON MONDAY, which is HALLOWEEN:

Children may come to school in costumes. If appropriate, children should wear shorts and t-shirts under costumes so that mid day, they can take off the costume. If the costume is comfortable and not an issue, they may keep the costume on all day and won't need shorts under.

COSTUMES: no masks or weapons. Children may have their faces painted. We will be on the bus in the morning, so please consider sitting on a bus when choosing your child's Halloween costume.

MONDAY, we will be going to the nursing homes in Boonville and one in Evansville to sing to the elderly and deliver what gifts we have collected this month.

Collections for the elderly are still going on!!! Please plan to give!

At lunch time, we will again pick up pizza and return to school for Halloween fun in the afternoon. School dismisses at 4:00 promptly so that children have time to trick or treat.

There is no Adult party this year. After much discussion, we felt that Halloween is for the kids, and it was too difficult for parents to come to eight parties, so we chose the four parties that were the most important and Halloween was not one of them.

If you are reading this blog article, please say Frankenstein's Monster to a teacher for your child to receive a special bead for his medal...it's a parent read bead!

Tuesday's Teacher

Brain Study Points to Potential Treatments for Math Anxiety

By Sarah D. Sparks on October 20, 2011 7:18 AM | 9 Comments | 16 Recommendations

For some students, an announcement of a math pop quiz can send them into a cold sweat. A new brain-imaging study suggests that the way they deal with that first rush of anxiety can be critical to their actual math performance.

The study, published this morning in the journal Cerebral Cortex, is a continuation of work on highly math-anxious people being conducted by Sian L. Beilock, associate psychology professor at the University of Chicago, and doctoral candidate Ian M. Lyons. In prior research, Beilock has found that just the thought of doing math problems can trigger stress responses in people with math anxiety, and adult teachers can pass their trepidation about math on to their students.

But nobody likes to perform badly. And dyscalculia—a serious math disability—affects about as many people as dyslexia. So which comes first: the struggle to do math, or the fear of it?

The latest study suggests fear may be a bigger hindrance than previously thought. The researchers analyzed 32 college students, ages 18 to 25, identified as high or low math anxiety based on their answers to a questionnaire. The students were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI—a brain imaging technology which measures blood flow to different areas of the brain—while the students performed a series of equally difficult math and spelling tasks. As expected, students who were highly anxious about math performed less accurately on math than on spelling and less accurately in math than students who were not afraid. But the story doesn't end there.

"We know that anxiety or fear of math can lead people to perform worse than what they know," said Beilock, author of the 2010 book Choke, on brain responses to performance pressure. "We know that when people perform poorly in a particular subject area, they tend to develop anxiety about their abilities, but being math anxious doesn't mean you are going to perform poorly in math. Some of these math anxious individuals were able to overcome their fear and succeed."

Students were shown a symbol before each question, telling them whether the item would be math- or spelling-related. So the brain scan was able to distinguish a student's anxiety about the upcoming question—and response to that anxiety—separately from what the student did while actually answering the problem. The researchers found some highly math-anxious students performed considerably better on the actual math problems than others, and these students' brains looked very different as they prepared to answer a math question.

Students who were anxious about math but performed well anyway showed high activity in the frontal and parietal regions of the brain when they learned a math problem was coming up; these are not the areas of the brain associated with calculating numbers, but those associated with cognitive control, focus, and regulating negative emotions. Students who activated these parts of the brain before attempting the math problem got 83 percent of the problems correct, nearly the same as the 88 percent accuracy of students with low math anxiety. By contrast, highly anxious students whose brains did not register activity in those regions got only 68 percent of the math questions correct.

Moreover, the researchers found that students' performance had less to do with how afraid they were of the coming math problem—as measured by activity in the amygdala, the brain's fear center—and more to do with how they responded to that fear. While the study focused on college-age students, the regions of the brain that govern cognitive control and emotional regulation do not completely mature until a person reaches her mid-20s, so Beilock said the effects of anxiety may be even more important for younger students.

"Think about walking across a suspension bridge if you're afraid of heights versus if you're not—completely different ballgame," Lyons said in a statement on the study.

For highly math-anxious students, the researchers found, "it is not necessarily the level of one's self-reported math anxiety per se that predicts one's math deficit, rather it is one's ability to call upon frontoparietal regions before the math task has even begun."

Moreover, Beilock told me, that sort of focus can be taught, and math interventions that address anxiety may be more helpful than those that remediate math skills alone. Previous research has identified benefits from meditation and cognitive control interventions that improve the brain's focus and ability to control negative emotions. Mark H. Ashcraft, a psychology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is planning one such study next year of a potential intervention focused on changing middle school students' attention and attitudes.

"This study really suggests we can devise interventions that can help students reappraise the situation and control emotions before they even get into a task," Beilock said. "It shows how some math anxious people are able to engage brain power to succeed."

A copy of the study is available here: Math anxiety.pdf

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning and welcome to another week at the GS!

Ghost week this week. Field trip to Willard library on Friday.

We are still working on collecting leaves. If you have a tree in your yard, have your child bring a leaf for our collection.

We have a new science project budding in the pet room. Last week, I wondered why Corky and Bess did not like the nesting box I put up in their favorite spot. I ordered a book on Quaker parrots, and I learned that they are the only nest building parrots. I watched a short short on UTube called "Sparky Builds His Dream House," and realized just how wrong I had been about this wonderful bird. So this weekend, I put the horse barn in the zoo room and this week, we will introduce the children to the new nest building extravaganza we hope shortly ensues from the bird and new house.

We will put all kinds of natural nesting materials in the room for the birds with the hope that the children can watch these wonderful birds build a fabulous home.

Also this week, new shirts arrive on Thursday, so if you have not bought and want one, now is the time. They are $15.00. New students since August will automatically get a shirt on Thursday.

We will be trying some new dishes this week. Don't forget to ask your child what he has been eating at the GS. If he likes it, I will put the recipe on the blog.

If you have read this blog entry, please tell a teacher "Rumpelstiltskin" and your child gets a treasure box pass.

Have a great week!

We Had a Great Week!

Great week at school. Lots in the hopper and lots to do. Kids really responded well to the art projects and all that we did. The children are beginning to listen...

The single most important thing we can do for the children in our care is to teach them to listen. Listening skills are the one thing most people never learn and suffer from a lack of all their lives.

Listening means closing the mouth and opening the ears. Listening means to put self second and someone else first. Listening means to put our own ideas aside and listen to someone else talk about what they think.

Listening does not mean to adopt other people's ideas, allow people to bully us, or change everything we think. Listening, after all is passive. It's a time when we simply stop what we are doing and put ourselves on hold for someone else to "have a moment."

That's not possible with most adults, and those adults who never listen teach their own children not to listen by example, and that's a shame.

Listening usually follows a question. Most adults rarely ask a question and less frequently listen to the answer. That's because most adults are trudging through life holding a hand mirror, and we all know how frustrating that is.

We are working steadily at question asking and listening so that our children will be the absolute best students who ever lived. By learning to listen to what is being said, and that means putting self aside, and finding what is being said interesting enough to ask a question means the development of "curiosity," and curiosity about the world is one of the most important attributes a functioning human can have.

And while we are discussing such topics, teaching parents to read is a goal as well. This forum - the blog - is our school newspaper. If you are reading this article, just say "Rumpelstiltskin," and your child gets a treasure box pass.

For Ryan - Pancakes and Syrup

Pancake syrup is easy. There are two kinds regular and fruit.

Regular syrup is two cups of sugar to a cup of water. Add 1/2 a stick of butter and boil three minutes. Flavor with your favorite: maple, vanilla, rum...

Fruit syrup is made with frozen apple concentrate and a cup of sugar and a stick of butter. Boil five minutes and add fresh fruit if desired.

Pancake Batter:

I start with whole grain flour - about two cups.

Add everything that sounds good to you: 1/2 cup oats, flax, wheat germ, corn meal, dry cereal, etc.

For every two cups of dry ingredients, add one heaping teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 cup of oil, an egg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and milk to the consistency of a milk shake. You can use any milk. Whisk.

Fresh fruit, coconut, nuts, peanut butter, chocolate, onions, bacon all give ordinary pancake batter a real zing.

On a griddle, lightly spray pan coat, and ladle batter on a 400 degree griddle. When bubbles appear AND burst, it's time to flip. You don't have to spray pan coat every batch.

Enjoy!

Wednesday's Wonder

Here is a super good recipe for Devil Cake that is super good for you! But try to stay away from it after the first serving because it will bedevil you until you have eaten ALL of it...I promise!

1 cup white flour

2 cups whole wheat white flour

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter softened

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1 15 ounce pumpkin

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 package mini dark chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degreese

use pan coat on two large bunt pans

mix first six ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add pumpkin and the vanilla. Blend. Alternately add the flour mix and the milk until smooth. Add the tiny chocolate chips.

Bake about an hour until done.

YUM.

Eating the Potatoes...

It was fun about a week ago when Miss Molly went into the garden she planted last spring and pulled out a five pound sweet potato. It was a thing of beauty and we all admired it.

This week, I went out again, in the rain, and pulled out enough sweet potatoes to feed the kids today. It was triumph because it was so hot this summer, the other veggies died on the vine no matter how much water we seemed to give them.

We have lots of plants at the "Garden School." We have two apple trees, a pear tree, a plum tree, a cherry tree and a peach tree. We have a blueberry bush and strawberries, and if people would stop mowing them down, we would have some wonderful black berry bushes.

This past spring, we planted two raised beds of tomatoes and other vegetables like the sweet potatoes, and it was a bust until now.

Growing your own food is an incredible journey, and well worth the time and effort. It's so much fun to harvest what you grow.

Last week, I bought a book at Amazon called "Urban Homesteading" and gave the book to my wonderful young teacher, Miss Lisa. She lives down town and is planning to grow all kinds of things on her small piece of ground.

Learning to grow food, make food, and preserve food in this era of store boughts is a thing of beauty. So proud of my teachers.

I'll let you know how the kids liked these home grown very fresh sweet potatoes.

Teaching Tuesday - Taking the Kids...

Last night my daughter, Molly, posted on her Facebook page that she was taking her kids to the movies in the pjs. It was the last night of their Fall Break at school, and they had all done A B work in school this period, so she thought some fun activities over the break would be fun. Unfortunately, she came down with a flu bug and couldn't keep her promises on Saturday and Sunday, so on Monday, the last break day, she got the kids ready for bed and then took them to see the new dolphin movie. What a treat! How fun.

Doing something out of the ordinary, something warm and cozy and just for the kids is a blessing to any family. Our theaters are close, clean, safe, and empty most of the time, so we're not talking about a crowded unsafe place. Curling up in arm-less seats with parents who absolutely love you, doing something different, daring (to a child) and fun is what family time is supposed to be about.

I cheer my daughter on with an enormous shout of approval.

Here's to something new and different.

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning and welcome to a regular week at the Garden School.

No field trips this week! We are looking at leaves, and children are encouraged to bring in unusual leaves...we are making a leaf collection for the school library. We do not want a huge assortment. One a day will do, and we will save only those for the collection.

This week we are trying out a new food: baked squash. We will stuff the squash with bacon and rice and use a cheese sauce. We are experimenting with different kinds of meatballs and this squash will go with turkey balls.

We use a charting system to encourage children to eat their meals. This week, a child must finish his milk and his lunch or breakfast to get a sticker.

We are still collecting for the nursing homes in Boonville that we will visit on Halloween. Please be generous and donate items you would like to have if you were all alone in a nursing home and no one came to see you or bring you the things you need!

It will be chilly this week, and children are encouraged to wear jeans and short sleeves and bring a light jacket. Please do not send hats and mittens with children yet. It is not appropriate clothing yet.

Please check your child's medal. It could have lots of new things on it, and your child should be able to tell you what each new bead and bauble designates.

As usual, payment is due on Mondays.

If you have not paid your field trip fee, now's the time!

Have a glorious week!

Returning...

Thank you all so much for leaving a comment. It really means a lot. I've written this blog for five years and quite frankly, I didn't think anyone was reading it, so I thought I would combine the writing with my web site The Garden School of Evansville.com. Because of your comments, I will stay with the blog.

I've loved writing about early childhood for twenty years. I started as a local columnist for my newspaper and that column was syndicated by Scripps Howard. I then I spent three years at a subsidiary of NBC, again writing about children. Over the years, my work has been loved and hated across the nation. I've received wonderful fan mail and a lot of hate mail because of my work with hyperactivity. Two of my hyperactive columns were published in medical journals, and I was delighted. All of these articles are available by Googling Judy Lyden and a topic.

In one edition of a children's magazine, I was quoted fourteen times.

When I first started writing about children, one of the journalists at my newspaper said, "She won't last three months...there is just nothing to write about kids... I wrote fifteen years, and it was the only column ever syndicated by that paper.

I love writing about children, and this blog gives me that opportunity, and so have those of you who left a message. Thank you so much. And PLEASE leave a comment when you visit! Love hearing from you.

Judy

Tuesday's Teacher

Campbell Soup: Proposal on kids marketing sets ‘virtually unachievable’ standards

By Elaine Watson, 22-Jul-2011

Related topics: The obesity problem, Sodium reduction, Market

Government proposals designed to protect children from junk food marketing are “based on nutrition standards that are virtually unachievable”, according to a group of Campbell Soup employees.

Staff at the soup giant were commenting onproposals - published in April by a working group representing several government agencies - that would prevent firms marketing foods to kids unless they meet strict new nutritional standards.

While many manufacturers are channeling their views via trade associations, several Campbell employees have also submitted commentsindividually expressing their concerns during the consultation period.

Misguided and counterproductive

The Campbell staff, including Steve Petroski, Tracy Saloum, Curtis Dorn and Andrew Turay, say: “Although these guidelines seek to promote a worthy goal in which we wholeheartedly share, they do so in a manner that is misguided and that will be counterproductive."

In practice, the “draconian” thresholds for sodium, fat and sugars meant a high proportion of foods currently on the market would not meet the standards, while the proposed nutritional principles "describe products that manufacturers will not produce because children and teens will not eat them.”

Guidelines will also limit communications intended for adults

Because the IWG’s definition of advertising and marketing was so broad, the proposals could also “substantially limit communications intended for adults”, they claimed.

“In fact, if as little as 20 percent of the audience for a communication is composed of persons aged 12-17, the communication will be considered ‘marketing to children’ and must therefore satisfy the guidelines’ draconian standards. As a result, many communications plainly intended for adults will no longer be permissible.”

Karen Moller, business operations director at the soup giant, added: “Because the definition of ‘marketing to children’ is so broad - it includes anything on the packaging that could appeal to children or adolescents - the commercial viability of continuing to make these products would be in serious question.”

Several other firms have also joined Campbell in making individual public comments, including Denise Heck of the United Baking Company, who said: “We cannot understand how this advertising ban will provide a viable solution [to obesity]”.

Sodium targets

The IWG itself notes that a “high proportion of foods currently in the marketplace would not meet these limits [on sodium], even with significant reformulation” and says its goal, by 2021, is achieving a sodium limit for foods marketed to kids that matches federal labeling regulations for 'low sodium' foods.

While the American Bakers Association (ABA) has argued this would "preclude advertising of nearly all baked goods to children", many health advocacy groups argue in their public comments that this would be no bad thing.

The Obesity Society said: “We appreciate the difficulty in determining cut-offs in saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar that distinguishes healthy from unhealthy foods. Thus ideally those difficult decisions could be circumvented if all food marketing to children was prohibited.”

But ABA senior vice president, government relations and public affairs Lee Sanders said they would “eliminate the ability to promote and advertise very basic and important grain food staples in children’s diets”.

The American Meat Institute added: “Setting unrealistic targets and employing a one-size approach in sodium reduction ignores the unique functions sodium provides in meat products compared to other foods.”

Self-regulation

But Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) nutrition policy director Margo Wootan accused the food industry of scaremongering by overstating the impact of the proposals.

“The food industry lost major credibility claiming that the administration was trying to ban advertising of whole wheat bread, peanut butter, or other healthy foods to kids.”

According to an analysis conducted by Georgetown Economic Services, only twelve of the top 100 most commonly consumed foods and beverages in America would meet the IWG's proposed nutrition standards.

Food trade associations are instead rallying behind the industry-led Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), which has recently been beefed up via with the adoption of uniform nutrition criteria for foods advertised to children.