The Garden School Tattler

Well, I'm grounded. I've had to go to my room. How long I will stay there depends on how much I behave myself. Not likely.

I never liked to ground my teenagers either - meant they had to stay home with me. Work detail is a lot better trade off than sitting in one's room.

Today I have to sit in my room. The doctor says I overworked my fillet mignon, and only half believing him, I continued to go, go, go and today it's a "go to your room and stop." What I really need is a little meat tenderizer and some time in the field.

Today I had planned to go to early Mass, breakfast with Edith and then go over to school to paint a brick floor in my new learning niche at school would be a great way to spend Saturday. I also wanted to work on the new Chinchilla "environment" but there is always next week.

One of the things my class loves to do is to gather for games. We use a lot of our school work as "do you know" games. It's a really good way of teaching because every single child has the chance of winning, and they all do. It's a matter of listening and doing, and that's what school will demand all their lives. Every child shines every day.

But because I like to have areas to do things, I thought a nice corner with windows, and plants would inspire the children to relax and enjoy the game playing. Game playing is after all supposed to be fun. If I can find those outdoor folding chairs, I'll get those as well. I want to make this learning corner a place the kids love to be.

A classroom is an important thing in a child's life because they spend so much time there, and a classroom should be a place where children ask to play. Using a classroom is an essential part of teaching. By a 40,000 year tradition, people like change of environment during the day. That's why the common day care is simply wrong in its setup. Keeping children confined to a single no change room is cruel.

Changing a small space to seem like it has different environments is the challenge. In my very small room there will be four different places to learn. We will continue to have the long table and blackboard for math and for art. We will have the patio learning center by the south and east windows, we will have the Chinchilla cage with book shelves and chairs for reading and the "Niche" which will eventually be set up as a hands on center for making. There is a loom given to us by Ty's grandfather which is always available for weaving, and the girls have been doing some needlework, and the table there is just perfect for some crafts. I have a spinning wheel as well and would like to teach the children how to card and spin and then work the threads in different ways.

"Junk! Not a part of an academic environment and therefore frivolous!" So spaketh the classroom Nazi. The clean freak with the sparkling floors and the work sheets. Miss Judy does not get along with the CN because all things should be considered.

So consider each section, there is purpose and elegance to a set up that graciously invites children to learn while it actually does the work of real teaching. The patio learning center is a place that offers time for the children to expand reading skills with games. It's a happy place to learn to read because each child is gaining game skill and is answering boldly. When the group activity is done, the child can gravitate toward the reading center and try it on his own. How many times have you read something and been distracted by the antics of a bird or a squirrel and the thinking wheels began to really turn? I'd like to have get two chinchillas and let the children watch them in a close to natural environment.

Craft with the hands stimulate rhythm. It connects thought with do. It helps problem solving, and it ends up a product in the child's hands that says, "I made this all by myself."

So, when the fillet mignon heals, Miss Judy will attack that room with a vengeance.

Next week is show time again. We have been practicing and the kids sound pretty good. This week we will add a few new things just for fun.

We hope the program is as fun for parents as it has been for the kids.

We've been spending a lot of time outside getting the sun so the summer field trips don't surprise the kids.