The Garden School Tattler

It's been a week - a really good week. We've had two puppet shows - fledgling shows, but we're working on the voices. Yesterday Mr. Devilin told the story of his old friend Pinocchio. He has an Irish brogue. He was seconded by Jerome Prescott, the barn owl who is manned by Edith.

We need a stand up puppet shelf along the lines of Sherry and Lamb Chop. I'm thinking a kind of Dutch door set up. Any ideas?

We are still working on the paper mache puppets. Not all the children have even started them, but some of the first attempts are dry now, and it's time to put on the feet. That should be a trip. We are going to spend the morning working on them.

It's International Feast today at 12:30. I'm bringing curried chicken. Edith is bringing bean dip. The regular lunch is bean soup and peanut butter, cheese or egg sandwiches. Parents are welcome to join us at 12:30.

The teaching is going very well. When Miss Kelly was hired, I told her my goal for the first grade was to learn to read and write well enough to write stories and illustrate them. As the child learns more, the stories get longer and the illustration becomes less and less important. Yesterday, Miss Kelly showed me their first attempts. I nearly cried. They were so adorable. The children wrote tributes to one another.

My education theory is that the ability to read and write well enough to be able to tell the world about one's thoughts encourages the following disciplines: reading for good word sense, writing for expression and thought, advanced or critical thinking and problem solving, creative effort, humor, social development. This is what I would like to send these kids off to big school being able to do. A mastery of the language in mind, word and creation is a skill that will serve them forever. So three cheers for Miss Kelly and a great round of applause for the kids.


On the downside --- We have about six kids who are having a lot of trouble with behavior, and we have started a smiley face project that seems to work encouraging good behavior - like listening to learn.

Up front in the school there is a chart with the children's names and each name starts out the day with a smiley face. That face can be lost by disruption, disobedience or aggression. It can be earned back by a period of great behavior. The faces came and went yesterday by the half hour and the behavior was much better. At 3:00 we take note of who has managed to salvage the day, and we post the face on the envelope to go home. Children who have earned a green face all week will not come on the field trip on Monday. Letters will be sent home today.

Monday we are going ice skating. Our parent, Miss Grace, has taught ice skating in upstate New York, and she has volunteered to go with us and help the kids out. We are so grateful for parents like her. We hope to have a lot of parents interested in taking kids on the ice.

The sweatshirts are in, but the company put the logo on the back and the words on the front and it looks just terrible. They have agreed to re-do them, but that means a wait again. Not sure it's worth the wait, but I'll let Miss Molly make that decision.

Yesterday I read the Elephant's Child, by Rudyard Kipling, in class. Of my ten little guys, eight listened to the story. I was so impressed because it's a long story and it was at the end of the K day. Logan was riveted to this story and so were Justin and Aidan. I looked down and the eagerness to get more was as fun as reading the story.

I asked a parent yesterday if his child watched or wallowed in front of TV, and the answer was wallow. I'm not a fan of TV, so encouraging watching is not my gig. I think it might be a wise idea to nix the TV altogether and simply turn it on for a few minutes to "WATCH" otherwise it just becomes more background noise kids don't listen to. Listening is a skill, and background noise is not an encouraging sound - it's a discouraging sound.

Well, it's time to go to school.

Have a good day - a day filled with joy and fun. Laugh today.