Saturday, April 30, 2011

Great New Math Book by Debbie Diller

Product Details

Author:
Debbie Diller
Year:
2011
Media:
312 pp/paper
ISBN:
978-157110-793-0
Item No.:
WET-0793


If you've ever questioned how to make math stations work, you'll find this photo-filled, idea-packed resource invaluable. This book extends Debbie Diller's best-selling work on literacy work stations and classroom design to the field of mathematics. In Math Work Stations you'll find ideas to help children develop conceptual understanding and skills, use math vocabulary as they talk about their mathematical thinking, and connect big ideas to meaningful independent exploration and practice. This book details how to set up, manage, and keep math stations going throughout the year. There's even a chapter devoted solely to organizing and using math manipulatives. Each chapter includes:


  • key concepts based on NCTM and state math standards;
  • math vocabulary resources and literature links;
  • suggested materials to include at each station for the corresponding math content strand;
  • ideas for modeling, troubleshooting, differentiating, and assessment; and
  • reflection questions for professional development.

Throughout the book, Debbie has included hundreds of color photos showing math work stations in action from a variety of classrooms in which she has worked. Charts, reproducible forms, and math work stations icons are included to provide everything you'll need to get started with stations in your classroom right away.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Friday's Tattler


Spring Sing today at 3:00 p.m. The children have been practicing Civil War songs and Just for Fun songs. They're pretty good. It should be a good event. Singing starts promptly at 3:00!

Today is the last day for the book sale. We will set up in the music room. Credit cards may be used today. More books have been added to the sale, so take a look.

Monday is our last day for registering for our summer program. Ten children who are on our roster now have not signed up. Sign up means returning your form with your swim suit fee. On Tuesday, those ten places will be given away to the ten people on our waiting list.

The big portion of the summer fee is due before May 27.

We will be beginning a new program for the children on Mondays and Fridays. It will be a physical education class with an emphasis on listening skills. Children must wear shorts, short sleeved shirts, socks and athletic shoes.

If you have not returned your Hop-in-ing money, please do so.

Have a great weekend...see you later!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Many Styles of Teaching by Judy Lyden


There are many teaching styles and many teaching deliveries. Some styles are truly successful and children flourish. Everyone comes out a winner, and that teacher and his or her style is never forgotten. At cocktail parties years later, someone is remembering teacher who had a great style, and there is great fondness.

Some styles are not memorable. The lackadaisical teacher who spends her day on her cell phone or who reads her own book while students are struggling with their lessons is a teacher that students won't remember. The four hundred copy sheets a day teacher who rarely has the energy to get the copy sheets or work sheets home makes teaching a dull dull model.

Then there are mean ones. We all remember walking into the high school math class and being told that "Nobody in this class will pass this class." I call this method, The Fort Knox method of teaching. The teacher's got it, and he or she is not giving it away; it (knowledge) stays right where it is. And our tax dollars continue to pay this guard.

Then there are the teachers who say, "I never give As." This is the Scrooge method of teaching. And for the most part, the students are undone by this inability to achieve. Conquest of the subject matter is taken away from the child by a teacher's refusal to allow the perceived "riff raff" darkening the classroom doorstep to succeed. Nice.

Then there are the apologetic types who spend most of their year apologizing to the students for mistakes, misconceptions, and miss connections. These are the confusing teachers because they have clay feet. The student enters the classroom and comes out confused.

There are mollycoddles who think children are the icing on the cake, the stars in the sky. This kind of teacher doesn't see children as human beings, but as boutique items. Not ever a good thing.

There are the pal teachers who claim to be every child's best friend and turn out to be their own best friend.

There are teachers for whom the vast crevasse between the student's desk and the teacher's desk is so deep and so wide and so tall, there is no crossing - at all.

There are dozens of styles of teaching and every year students of all ages will greet not only a teacher, but a style or many teachers and many styles.

In the thirty years I've taught, I've tried to model myself on the better teachers I've had and known, but quite frankly, I'm always too busy trying to get my point across to really bother with what a successful style is. Getting the attention of thirty or forty little kids at one time is a trick in itself.

One of the things I've noticed is that if a teacher keeps kids guessing about what she is going to say or do next, there is a lot more interest on the part of the student to listen to the teacher. A dull teacher who never presents anything new is just that - dull - and kids, little kids especially with say, "why listen?" With little kids, a teacher needs to be part clown, part surprise, and part rewarding angel - at least some of the time.

Kids love competition, and competition is good for the American way of life, so when a teacher starts games, contests and "I bet you don't know..." kids will respond positively to listening, and that makes learning more fun and therefore something they want to do.

Just taking a chair and sitting with your back to the kids in the front of the room will get some attention. Then looking over your shoulder will draw in more attention. What is she going to do next? Making a face will draw in the rest of the kids, and now with their attention, the voice goes down low so that everyone is listening. The first idea comes out...the teacher promptly chooses the least active child in the class to ask his opinion of the idea and the class takes off. Up she flies from her chair and the contest to acquire knowledge and prizes makes the class of nearly anything work.

Young children have very short attention spans, and some have no spans at all, so getting a group's attention is the key to developing good teaching style. And getting the attention of any group is the beginning of all teaching to begin with.

My husband, who spent his life in the classroom, always said, "I have something to say, and they are going to listen." That works with older students, but with threes, fours, fives, and sixes, what a teacher has to say has to be short, to the point, interesting and fun all at the same time and can only be delivered AFTER the teacher gets the group's attention.

Now let's talk about presentation. There are teachers who think that anything they present in any way they present it should captivate a class, but that's quite the contrary when working with little kids. The class that most captivates a group of very young children is a class that is multi-dimensional and lively. I once taught the Norman Conquest to thirty very young children and held the whole group for thirty minutes, so I know this is true. It's possible to teach almost anything, but dryer subjects better boarder on a comedy routine and have a lot of props and the kids need to be involved somehow.

Developing a style with kids means listening to them. There is always a mood, and a good teacher reads that mood, reaches into herself and draws out just what the group needs. Sometimes it's a secret, sometimes it's friendship, sometimes it's information that just awes them. But it's always interesting to THEM because they are the primary purpose - the reason why a teacher is teaching. It's not about the teacher - the teacher comes last.

One of the problems older teachers have is the fiction that what they have "always done" is not only sufficient, but "all they are going to get." This is a kind of half threat half punishment theory that put into practice becomes a real detriment to learning. This is a protective kind of distance older teachers welcome because the challenge to keep up with the constant changes of teaching is never easy. But a teacher who is teaching now children with antique tools will alienate students like no other style. Older teachers who realize this pitfall will remove from their possession, all prototypes of years gone by and will continue to upgrade ideas.

Best way to avoid aging is to associate and listen to the young teachers. What young teachers don't have is experience. When an older teacher gets a hold of a terrific new scheme for teaching and applies her constancy and her experience, she finishes the teaching race first, and that's the way it should be.

Developing a style begins at the beginning by watching experienced teachers who have stayed current. Secondly, developing a style takes a kind of unselfishness that puts the students in the foreground. Thirdly, a good teacher is constantly reviewing what the students have learned because that's where the goal is.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wild and Wacky Wednesday!

Signs for the Modern Woman...just for fun. Hope you enjoy.
































From One Gorgeous Gal to Another......

Today is National 'HOLY SMOKE, YOU'RE AWESOME' Day!

Send this to someone gorgeous, but don't send it back to me –
I've been getting this message all day!!!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tuesday's Teacher


I've always been interested in herbs - first for taste, and secondly, for nutrition, and lately I've been more and more determined that herbs can do a lot of what modern medicine is trying to do, but more gently. Here is an article from Susun Weed from her Wise Woman Weblog. It's very interesting and very informative.

Golden Milk: An Ancient & Healing Remedy

Golden Milk: An Ancient & Healing Remedy

by Rosalee de la ForĂȘt

Turmeric has been used for thousands of years for countless ailments. In recent years it has also caught the attention of western researchers and there are many studies touting its many benefits.

Some benefits include...

  • Digestion and the liver (Ulcers, diverticulitis, flatulence, leaky gut)
  • Heart heath (High blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol)
  • Immune support (Cancer, colds and flu, bronchitis)
  • Musculoskeletal strength and flexibility (Joint disorders, arthritis, pain)
  • Nervous system (Pain, Alzheimer's)
  • Wound healing and healthy skin (Eczema, psoriasis)
  • Diabetes and Menstruation difficulties

Turmeric is pretty astonishing!


I learned this basic recipe from Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa and I often suggest it to my clients with a lot of success.

K.P. Khalsa has a new course coming out this week called Culinary Herbalism.

This recipe is in two parts. First we make the paste and then we’ll explore how to use it.

To make the turmeric paste you’ll need:

  • 1/4 cup of turmeric powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup of water

Measure out the ingredients. The additional pepper makes the turmeric more bioavailable, meaning that you use less for better results. At these measurements the pepper is about 3% of the mixture.

Turmerioc-paste-1

Next add the powders and the water to a small sauce pan and mix well. Turn the heat to medium high and stir constantly until the mixture is a thick paste. This won’t take long!

Turmerioc-paste-2

Let this mixture cool and then keep it in a small jar in the fridge.

Turmerioc-paste-3

Now we’ll look at a variety of ways to use this mixture.

Golden Milk

To make Golden Milk you’ll need...

  • 1 cup of milk (or milk substitute if you don’t consume dairy)
  • 1 teaspoon almond oil, ghee or olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon or more of turmeric paste
  • honey to taste

Combine all the ingredients (except honey) in a saucepan and while stirring constantly heat the mixture until just before it boils.

Add honey to taste.

Other suggestions... this could be made into a smoothie. When blended it creates a beautifully foamy drink. Fruit could be added. Cinnamon can be sprinkled on top, etc. Experiment and enjoy!

Other options for turmeric paste

  • Add a small dollop of the paste on top of crackers and cheese.
  • Spread the paste on sandwich bread and continue with sandwich ingredients.

The best way to get our medicine is in our food.

Please check out this new course with K.P. Khalsa ALL ABOUT Culinary Herbalism. There is a video on making this recipe in the Culinary Herbalism course.

Ch-log-in

Monday, April 25, 2011

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning!

It's going to be a rainy week. There will be a break on Thursday and Friday, however, for Spring Sing.

Spring Sing is presented at 3:00 on Friday. Every child must have an attending adult. Please plan to bring a treat to share. Children will be singing their favorite songs.

We will continue to have the book fair this week. Friday is the last day. If there is something you want or need to be set aside for a more convenient time to pay, please ask a teacher.

This week we will be listening to classical music and looking at fine art prints. This is a great time to introduce children to the great classics!

This week the weather will be poor, but the temperature will be high, so shorts and t-shirts are appropriate.

If you are planning to send your child to the summer program this summer and have not signed up, now is the time to do so. We have ten spots left, and they are filling up fast.

Have a great week!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

New Book by Hillary Feerick and Jeff Hillenbrand



INTRODUCING MITCH SPINACH …THE VEGGIE SUPERHERO!
AUTHORS WANT YOUR KIDS TO EAT THEIR VEGGIES:

The Secret Life of Mitch Spinach offers a passionate response to help abate the trend in nutrition-related diseases, such as type II diabetes, childhood obesity, ADD, ADHD, and chronically low immune systems.

The authors of The Secret Life of Mitch Spinach have two young children, a girl and a boy. Months before their first child was born, they began to delve more deeply into infant and maternal nutrition and kids healthy eating. Health and wellness were priorities for their family, and they wanted to give their children the healthiest start possible. When their daughter started Kindergarten and was bombarded with junk food on a daily basis, they decided to do something about it. After doing a review of the literature, they set out to create new books that would not only entertain kids but motivate them to eat more fruits and veggies. "We know how difficult it is to raise healthy children in a fast-paced, junk-food-filled world", says Jeff Hillenbrand, "so we decided to combine our expertise in health (Jeff holds a BS in exercise science) and writing (Hillary holds a BA and MA in English and is an English teacher) to created Mitch Spinach, a healthy role model for children."

"We were lucky enough to collaborate with renowned family physician and best selling author Joel Fuhrman, M.D., whose books we had read and utilized in our journey to healthy eating as a family", says Jeff Hillenbrand. In fact, each book in the Mitch Spinach series contains a healthy recipe and a "Secrets for Parents and Teachers" section, written by Dr. Fuhrman, that explains many of the nutritional concepts alluded to in the book. Dr. Fuhrman is a board-certified family physician, author, and nutritional researcher who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods.

As parents, they know that kids don't like to be lectured about eating. However, they also knew that kids desperately needed a cool hero who espouses a healthy lifestyle for them to emulate. "We hoped that parents would catch the allusion to their old friend Popeye, and kids would love hearing about the new super kid on the block, Mitch Spinach," says Hillary Feerick.

While many books for children focus on a child's dislike of a certain food (usually a vegetable), the Mitch Spinach kids books is devoid of that type of negativity and instead transforms healthy eating into a behavior to be copied in order to gain "super" powers like those of Mitch Spinach. The Secret Life of Mitch Spinach is a new kids books series that has the power to significantly change the way that children eat because it actually prompts children to ask for healthy food without preaching to them about the benefits of a healthy diet. Good health begins in childhood, and scientific evidence suggests that the food children eat in the first ten years of their lives can have a critical and profound effect on their life-long health.

The authors also created the The Mitch Spinach website – www.MitchSpinach.com – to serve as a resource for parents, teachers, and kids. It offers creative, multidisciplinary lesson plans and outlines the importance of sound nutrition. Kids can print educational games, such as crossword puzzles and word searches that pertain to the healthy foods used in the books to reinforce what they have learned.


6 TIPS TO GET YOUR KIDS TO EAT THEIR VEGGIES

What else can you do when your child refuses to eat anything green and seems to subsist on chicken-fingers and French fries alone?


• Make food preparation a family affair. The more you involve your kids in the preparation and selection of meals and snacks, the more willing they are to try healthy foods. Even a simple trip to the grocery store to allow them to pick out the fruits and vegetables for the week (each child in the family should get his/her own choice) can make a world of difference. Let older children find recipes online that sound good to them using healthy foods. Allow them to choose how the vegetable of the day is prepared and even help in the preparation.

• Have a make-your-own smoothie party. Fill bowls with various ingredients, such as berries, mango, spinach, broccoli, flax or chia seeds, and let kids pick what they want. They can even turn the blender on! They love to be in control!

• Make your own salad. The same trick will work for salads. But don't just include lettuce. Use seeds, fruit, dried peas—anything goes!

• Let them dip. Make a quick salad dressing/dip or use a store-bought one and watch them eat string beans, carrots, celery, cucumbers, and any other veggie that you cut into strips for dipping.

• Make veggie and fruit shapes. Thinly slice carrots and cucumbers and use tiny cookie cutters to make shapes. Everything is more fun when it's in a shape (think silly bands).

• Make a vegetarian soup at least one night of the week. Pureed soups are great because you can't see what's in them (kale is easy to use this way). You'll be amazed what they'll eat when it's been whizzed in the blender or mixed with an immersion blender.

To get kids on the right track with healthy eating, order your copy of The Secret Life of Mitch Spinach by visiting the website: http://www.MitchSpinach.com. These new kids books combines the fun of reading with the invaluable gift of health.

Mitch Spinach Productions, Inc. has released a timely and innovative new children's book series entitled The Secret Life of Mitch Spinach. The Mitch Spinach books introduce a smart, cool, healthy role with super powers. The Mitch Spinach children's books promote healthy eating through exciting mysteries, multicultural characters and colorful illustrations. Additionally, Mitch Spinach Productions, Inc. is committed to to sharing the message of healthy eating to kids with as many families and schools as possible through the Mitch Spinach Fundraising Program to generate healthy revenue for schools and non-profits. So instead of selling candy bars at your next school fundraiser, visit http://www.MitchSpinach.com. Mitch Spinach Productions will donate up to $6 per book ordered during the fundraiser back to the school or non-profit. This is a win-win event for schools and for parents interested in getting their kids to eat more fruits and veggies and raise the desperately needed funds for these organizations. Learn more at http://www.MitchSpinach.com

Friday, April 22, 2011

Friday's Fun


A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle of the road.
He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car.

The driver,
a sensitive man as well as an animal lover,
pulls over and gets out to see
what has become of the rabbit.
Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the
Easter Bunny, and he isDEAD .

The driver feels so awful
that he begins to cry.
A beautiful blonde woman driving down the highway
sees a man crying on the side of the road
and pulls over.

She steps out of the car and asks the man
what's wrong.

"I feel terrible," he explains,
"I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny with my car and KILLED HIM."


The blonde says, "Don't worry."

She runs to her car
and pulls out a spray can.
She walks over to the limp, dead Easter Bunny ,
bends down,
and sprays the contents onto him.

The Easter Bunny jumps up,
waves its paw at the two of them
and hops off down the road.

Ten feet away he stops,
turns around and waves again,

he hops down the road another 10 fee t,
turns and waves,

hops another ten feet,
turns and waves,

and repeats this again and again and again and again,
until he hops out of sight.

The man is astonished.
He runs over to the woman and demands,

"What is in that can?
What did you spray on the Easter Bunny?"


The woman turns the can around
so that the man can read the label.


It says..




(Are you ready for this?)


(Are you sure?)

(You know you're gonna be sorry)


(Last chance)



(OK, here it is)



It says,



"
Hair Spray
Restores life to dead hair,
and adds
permanent wave."
H
appy Easter ! !!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

From Education Week

Can Reading Be Saved?

Readicide author Kelly Gallagher says schools need to stop focusing on tests and let kids immerse themselves in books.

Comment: Excellent article and well worth reading.

Kelly Gallagher is a veteran high school English teacher in Anaheim, Calif., and the author of four books on teaching reading and writing. He is best known for his 2009 book Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It (Stenhouse), in which he argues that the widespread lack of interest in reading among adolescents can be traced in part to “inane, mind-numbing” instructional practices found in today’s schools. We recently spoke to Gallagher about the state of student literacy today and what educators can do to help students become more fluent and engaged readers.


In your 25 years as a teacher, have you noticed a change in students’ reading habits or abilities? If so, what do you think accounts for it?

I’ve noticed a very large change, especially in the last 10 years. Students are reading a lot less. And here’s the compounding problem: That lack of reading has created a gaping hole in students’ prior knowledge and background, which is very, very important to bring to the page. A lot of times my kids can read the words on the page, but they can’t comprehend the text because they don’t have requisite prior knowledge and background information.

I think our kids are much more likely nowadays to find other things to do rather than read. They sort of encapsulate themselves in an entertainment bubble when they go home. A lot of Facebook, a lot of texting, instant messaging, and so on. They do a lot of entertaining themselves, but I’m not sure they do a whole lot of informing themselves.

Kids today really struggle with difficult texts. They don’t do a very good job of monitoring their comprehension. They don’t know how to fix their comprehension when it falters. And I’ve found that their ability to really focus in on their reading seems to lessen with each year.

So you see electronic entertainment media as the cause of this?

Well, I think there are a number of causes. Yes, it’s all the electronic entertainment—which really consumes their lives on many levels. Where I teach, in Anaheim, Calif., there’s also a huge issue with kids coming from print-poor environments at home. And a lot of students today are hurried children, in that they go to school and then have to go to work or football practice and then they go home and watch their little brother or sister. They don’t have time just to sit with a book.

In your books, you also lay at least part of the blame on trends in education.

Yeah, I think schools have unwittingly exacerbated the problem. And it’s ironic because school should be the place where kids go to learn to love reading. But school has become a place where kids go to hate reading. A lot of this, of course, is driven by the testing pressures. Those kids sitting in my 9th grade class today were in 1st grade when No Child Left Behind was enacted, so they have reached high school with a belief that the real reason you should read is to pass a test or respond to multiple-choice questions. As an adult who loves to read, I would say that if I learned to read in that context, I probably wouldn’t like reading either.

Schools have put all of their emphasis on academic reading and functional reading and completely abandoned the idea of trying to turn kids on to the kinds of reading we want them to do 10 and 20 and 30 years from now—and that’s recreational reading. We have forgotten that we want them to be readers, not just people who can pass a test. There are studies showing that adults who read regularly are much more involved in their communities and civic life generally, so I don’t think this is just a curriculum issue. I think it’s a cultural issue.

In Readicide, you write that “students need to be reintroduced to the notion that we read for enjoyment.” What steps can an individual teacher take to begin that process?

It’s all about surrounding kids with high-interest reading materials—books! You gotta have water in a pool if you’re going to be a swimmer, and you have to have really good books, particularly around reluctant readers, if you want kids to be good readers. And when I say books, I don’t mean only the classics. I mean high-interest recreational texts. Kids should be reading [Suzanne Collins’] The Hunger Games alongside Romeo and Juliet. I advocate a 50/50 approach. I think half the reading kids should be doing in K-12 should be recreational in nature. That’s what draws them in and makes them excited about reading.

I’ve been in a lot of schools across the country, and I ask teachers frequently, “How many of you actually have substantive discussions in your faculty meetings on whether your kids are surrounded with high-interest books?” That question draws laughs from some teachers, because schools are so completely focused on tests, tests, tests. No one is talking about just getting kids to enjoy reading, to immerse themselves in books they like.

As a result, I think what we are doing is selling out the long-term prospects of our kids becoming readers for the short-term pressures of raising test scores. And the sad thing is, I don’t think those two things are mutually exclusive. The kids who read the most actually end up testing the best anyway.

Let’s talk about struggling or reluctant readers. In your books, you don’t put a lot of emphasis on teaching decoding skills or basic reading skills. Is there a reason for that?

Very rarely do I find a high school kid who cannot decode. High school kids have phonemic awareness for the most part. Now, if I have a kid in the 9th grade who truly does not have phonemic awareness, that student will be referred into services where he can be taught that. But for the kids that sit in my classroom, the problem is not that they can’t decode words. For these kids, there are generally two main problems. One is that they don’t have enough fluency, so they read very slowly. They can pronounce the words, and they know the words, most of them, but they read incredibly slowly, so that it’s difficult for them to comprehend or mentally analyze a text.

The second issue is, again, just this whole problem of lack of prior knowledge and background information. Kids today are very smart, but they don’t know a whole lot about what’s happening outside their own worlds. So how can you have a kid read an article on, say, what Joe Biden said last night when they don’t even know who Joe Biden is? Seriously, you’d be amazed at what high school kids today don’t know. There’s a book called The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein, an English professor. I don’t agree with his title—I think kids today are really smart. But he’s right on the money when he talks about them existing in a kind of self-referential bubble—of living, as he puts it, for the “thrill of peer attention.” That environment is just not conducive to creating really strong and reflective readers.

How do you improve a student’s reading fluency?

Well, I think if you have a high school kid reading at the 4th grade level, he or she should be reading a lot of books at the 4th grade level. And once he gets better at that, then he should be reading books at the 5th grade level. It’s really, really important that teachers not only surround kids with high-interest texts, but they surround them with high-interest texts that the kids can handle, particularly if they are behind grade level.

But you also say that kids need to be exposed to the standard—and sometimes very difficult—classic works.

Very much so. I’m a big proponent of the classics.

And yet you warn against over-teaching or slowing down books too much. How do you avoid that when you’ve got a student who’s reading at the 4th grade level and he’s really struggling with the meaning and the language?

I get what you’re saying. I have to come back to the reason why I think all kids should be exposed to the classics, and that’s that the classics offer wisdom. They offer what the philosopher and literary critic Kenneth Burke calls “imaginative rehearsals for the real world.” I don’t have my kids read Romeo and Juliet just because it’s a love story. If that were the case, I’d bust out Sweet Valley High and get it over with. I have them read Romeo and Juliet because there are issues in it—for example, what are the effects of long-term feuds in your neighborhood?—that are still relevant to my kids today and that are still worth thinking about and reading about and writing about and arguing about.

So I’m going to have all my students read Romeo and Juliet. cause I teach a classroom that has a wide range of abilities, they’re going to comprehend it at much different levels. But they’re all going to be exposed to it. I don’t think that the best literature should just be only for some kids. With the kids who struggle, I have to do a lot of things to help them along—hopefully without turning it into just an academic chore for them. I have to scaffold the text in various ways to help them understand what’s going on. I have to give them guidance on the vocabulary and syntax as we’re working through the text. I also play a lot of recordings and show film clips. But somehow, through various forms of scaffolding, all of my kids walk out the door with a strong understanding of the text, and can even do some literary analysis of it. And almost all of them walk out the door understanding what the imaginative rehearsals were in that text—that is, how the book or play might apply to their lives. And, on top of that, exposure to these classic works also helps build their prior knowledge and cultural literacy, so that when they’re out in the world somewhere and they hear the phrase “Elizabethan tragedy” or “Orwellian,” they understand that reference.

Given your concerns about the digital entertainment bubble some kids live in, what role do you think technology and the Web should play in language arts classes?

Well, it depends on your definition of technology. I think the greatest technological advance in my 25 years of teaching, practically speaking, is my being able to hook my laptop and my document camera up to the LCD projector. This allows me to compose in front of my kids. They can watch me as I go through my writing or reading processes. In my classroom, I have sort of an I-go-we-go rhythm. I model, model, model. So if I want them to write something, I’m going to write first, or show them a way they can write it, and then we’re going to sort of write it together for a little bit, and then they’re going to be on their own for writing it. So this kind of technology is wonderful. Being able to bring the Internet into my classroom, and project it up onto the screen has also been invaluable—that helps me to bring in new resources and new ideas. There’s also a lot teachers can do with blogs, in terms of sharing and commenting on students’ work. And I expect that Kindle- or iPad-type devices will become increasingly common in classrooms, likely replacing textbooks. So technology is really opening a lot of avenues for teachers to model for kids and to interact with them in the process of reading and writing. I think it’s a really exciting time.

Do you think advances in technology and communication have changed the kinds of reading and writing skills students today need?

Yes and no. I make the argument in Deeper Reading that if you really teach a kid how to read, which is to say to infer, the student can then take that critical reading lense he’s developed and apply it in important ways to other kinds of materials. He’ll be able to analyze a ballot proposition or a politician’s speech. So in teaching kids to read deeply, you’re really sharpening their ability to read the world. So in that sense, I don’t think the imperatives of a good English teacher have changed.

But having said that, I do think that not enough time in schools is spent on getting kids to read critically in the one area we know they’re going to read for the rest of their lives—and that’s websites. I think there should be more attention on getting kids to ask questions when they read on the Internet. What’s the source for this? What’s this author’s purpose? Who’s the intended audience? People tend to read differently on the Web—it’s more of a skimming kind of method. Kids need to be able do that without giving up their critical reading skills. I don’t think we always do a good job of teaching that now.

What concerns do you have about the way reading is taught in schools today?

My concern is first and foremost that teachers are really under the gun because they are being forced to pursue an unrealistic number of unobtainable standards, and as a result that instruction is sped up. It skims over the surface. There’s no time to stop and go deep. We’ve become the sorts of classrooms where coverage trumps depth. So my first piece of advice to teachers is to do less and do it better—let students really immerse themselves in projects or books. That may mean you’re going to have to consciously not teach all the standards that your school system wants you to. But in this case, what your school system wants you to do is not in the best interest of the kids. What good does it do if a kid gets a good grade, or gets a good test score, but at the end of the year can’t really read deeply or can’t really write with deep thought?

Writing in particular has been put on the back burner, because teaching writing takes a lot of time and dedication. Teaching writing is really hard, and it takes time—time that teachers don’t have when they have to cover an ungodly amount of standards in X amount of days.

The irony, as I said, is that if you teach kids to read and write well, they’ll do fine on the test. But if you teach kids only to take tests, they’ll grow up and they’ll never read and write well. So my advice is to try to get into some authentic reading, some authentic writing. The book I’m writing now is about trying to get kids to go beyond what I would call “fake” school writing and into the kinds of writing we actually want them to do in their lives, now and in the future.

Are there specific ways teachers can develop those kinds of instructional skills?

Well, probably the best thing I did in my entire teaching career was to spend a July with the National Writing Project, which has sites sprinkled throughout the country. I can’t think of anything else that helps teachers become better teachers of writing than enrolling in the NWP. I’ve found that the best writing teachers I know are teachers who have gone through the Writing Project, who continue to read the professional books and journals, and who are plugged in to the conversation. To some extent, it’s about engagement.

What changes do you expect in language arts instruction in the next five to 10 years? Are there trends you're seeing that you think will affect the field?

Well, there was an article recently in The New York Times on how the College Board is completely revamping both the social science and the science AP exams. They’re basically coming into what I think is a much better sphere, in the sense that they’re going to hack out much of the content and require the teachers to slow down and teach in a way that’s richer and deeper. And I think that’s what’s going to happen in English and language arts, too. I think the pendulum is going to swing back into richer, deeper instruction—away from the inch-deep, mile-wide curriculum created to meet testing mandates. Just this week in the L.A. Times, there was an article about how even the Chinese are beginning to rethink their heavy emphasis on test preparation and making kids cram in mass volumes of information. They’re finding that many of their students, even the top ones, have lost their creative capacity. And that capacity becomes incredibly important when you become an adult, of course. So, maybe I’m an optimist, but I’m thinking that is the direction things are going to go in our reading and writing instruction as well: More than ever, we need to reintroduce kids to the richness and creative play of our subject.

—Anthony Rebora

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Post Storm Wednesday!

All lights on, all animals fine, and there is no delay for the Garden School this morning. See you at the regular time. If you have read this here, please tell a teacher so that your child can get a treasure box pass! Thanks for reading!

Wild and Wonderful Wednesdays!



Only a Farm Kid..

When you're from the country ~ you look at things a
little differently...

A Montana rancher got in his pickup and drove to a neighboring ranch and
knocked at the door. A young boy, about 9, opened the door "Is your Dad
home?" the rancher asked.

"No sir, he isn't," the boy replied. "He went into town."

"Well," said the rancher, "Is your Mother here?"

"No sir, she's not here either. She went into town with Dad."

"How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?"

"No sir, He went with Mom and Dad."

The rancher stood there for a few minutes,
shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" the boy asked politely.
"I know where all the tools are, if you want to borrow one.
Or maybe I could take a message for Dad."

"Well," said the rancher uncomfortably, "I really wanted to talk to your Dad.
It's about your brother Howard getting my daughter, Suzie, pregnant."'

The boy considered for a moment.
"You would have to talk to Pa about that," he finally conceded.
"If it helps you any, I know that Pa charges $500 for his stud,
$100 for the bull, and $50 for the hog,
but I really don't know how much he gets for Howard."

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

April is Autsim Awareness Month


April is Autism Awareness Month

Check Out Resourceful Autism Books and April eBook Promotion

Autism Spectrum Disorders affect nearly 1.5 million Americans. This April, expand your knowledge with four unique and innovative Autism titles from Sourcebooks.

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Autism and the God Connection by William Stillman

A powerful, groundbreaking book for anyone touched by autism

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The Autism & ADHD Diet by Barry Silberberg

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This is what parents are saying about an amazing diet that is showing extraordinary results in helping children eliminate many traits and symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, celiac disease, and other conditions. The Gluten-Free, Casein-Free (GFCF) Diet, as well as removing all artificial dyes and preservatives, is hugely effective for thousands of families.

A Child’s Journey Out of Autism by Leann Whiffen

Told with the intensity of a medical thriller, the extraordinary story of how Clay Whiffen and his family conquered autism.

· Profound message of hope for parents dealing with this issue

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Coloring Outside Autism’s Lines by Susan Walton

A new kind of hope for families living with autism

· A new and much-needed angle on autism. Opportunities to let loose and reconnect for exhausted families immersed in a stressful situation.

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The April eBook Promotion also includes: The Asperger’s Answer Book, Autism Encyclopedia, Autism Handbook for Parents, Children with High-Functioning Autism, School Success for Kids with Asperger’s Syndrome, and Teaching Children with Autism in the General Classroom.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Monday's Tattler


Good Morning! It's the start of our Book Fair. We expect books to arrive today. Such fun! We will be displaying books in the main playroom for children and parents to look through. Please feel free to browse anytime. That's what it's for!

In the front of the school is a change box. We will be able to keep all the money that we collect for the Garden School, and because we collected it, the same amount goes from Scholastic to the charity of our choice. We have decided to buy books for the children of deployed soldiers. The same amount also goes to poor children around the world who have no books. So this is a three way win! Please let your child put some extra change into the box and make his day!

We have a short week this week. We will be off on Good Friday. Children will take Easter baskets home on Holy Thursday. Every piece of candy in their Easter basked was earned by a good work this Lent. We are so proud of these children.

We will be talking about the Easter Traditions and doing Easter art this week. Should be fun.

On the menu is lasagna, nachos, bacon pizza, and pork roast.

If you are planning on your child being at the Garden School this summer and you have not enrolled your child, now is the time to do it. We are down to about twelve spots left, and the calls for the waiting list start this week.

Please take note of the right column on the blog. This is your "never change" column for recipes, and for your monthly calendar. Please tell your away relatives who might like to order a book that they can browse Scholastic online quickly and easily and have their book arrive to school. Just click the underlined "here" and you will find how easy it is.

Have a great week!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday's Plate by Judy Lyden


Part of designing a program for little kids is looking at the whole picture of a day and asking yourself, "What ARE the possibilities for each child?" beginning with first thing in the morning and ending with near dinnertime.

A little place for little people is what our sign says, and that concept contributes to the feeling when a child walks in that it's his place, and he is safe there to explore and learn all day. The difference between most day cares and our school is simple. Our school is created FOR the children not FOR the staff and not FOR some owner who never steps a foot on the premises. Everything is colorful, bright and busy because children should be stimulated into action, not dulled or lulled into submission by a lack of lighting and muted colors on the walls. There is a myriad of toys, activities, and places for children to look at what they have created on the walls.

Designing a play room requires the knowledge of what children need in order to explore. The traditional areas are: books, building, house and art. What we have done as teachers is take those four areas and expand on them so that like four rivers, there are hundreds of tributaries feeding the energy and the life of each of these areas of learning.

"House" as a play scheme is traditionally a kitchen with dishes, dolls and furniture for playing "house." That's a great concept, but how many children see mom go home to cook? Many children haven't a clue how to play house. We divided our house into two areas - the kitchen and the dress up area. In the kitchen, we slipped in the children's library, an extra table and children can go and do the usual thing...although the boys have made it a restaurant, which is hilarious.

In the half that has become dress up, we have built a huge ottoman where the girls and sometimes the boys can sit and admire each other dressing up in ball gowns, fancy golden, silver, lavender, and varying black shoes, fancy little evening bags, and hats of all kinds. A plethora of scarves are ready for wearing right along with other costumes and jewelry. The whole idea for this area is that little girls especially can put on fabulous costumes and be Cinderella for as long as they want. In the process, we are putting in drapes that are theatre like and contribute to the atmosphere of make believe. Mirrors are available to gaze and to dream.

Children create their own building area by hauling lumber to their favorite spot. Children can build with as many as ten different block and board types including hundreds of pounds of real wood. The children can add Rescue Heroes, cars, trucks, and trains to complete the action. The field is wide open to accommodate as big a structure as they can manage.

Building is also available at tables. No fewer than fifty building toys are available to construct just about anything they can "thunk" up! And new toys are added all the time.

Girls build too, and we have added Calico Critters as the new house-build toy, and the children have really enjoyed this.

There are five libraries within our school. There is the children's library, the science library, the history-geography library, the music library and the fine arts library. Children have access to every book in the school.

The art department is at the back of the school. In a shelf containing 60 gallon pickle jars filled with crazy art supplies like buttons and clay and shredded paper, and drawers and drawers of paper, paints, crayons, stamps, fancy scissors, punches, colored paper stacked to the ceiling, the children are free to explore just about any art they can think of.

If a child comes to school at open, 7:00 a.m., that child will have access to any and all of these toys until we ring the bell for breakfast at 8:30.

Meals are an important part of the Garden School. We make everything from scratch from whole grain flours and the best of other ingredients. Children are served a variety of whole grains and fresh fruit and fresh vegetables every day. Fresh and delicious has been our aim since the creation of the school. Even our snacks are a tribute to health and nutrition. When your cookies are as good as lunch just because of the ingredients, we're helping children eat well.

Our class time is designed around a departmentalized program of every teacher seeing every student every day. One of our teachers is a reading teacher, one is a handwriting teacher and one is a math teachers, so every student gets thirty minutes of each discipline every day. Students "change" classes just like the big kids do. This allows every teacher to have input on every child. Children have no ceiling of instruction. We take children as far as they can go...and it works because our fours are reading.

With reading, writing and arithmetic out of the way, it's time for recess - inside or out. The children go out to play on great days, and on rainy days, the playroom comes alive with play stations and activities opening up to new discoveries. The fancy shoes clack along the floors and the purses sway from golden chains.

Reading to the children is an important part of teacher-student trust. It's a listening skill, and one of the most important skills we can teach. Each child has a place where he sits to listen to any one of our teachers. Teachers each have a bookcase with their favorite books to draw from. Children are expected to listen politely and the stories are little books, Mother Goose, poetry, chapter books, and occasionally a make me up on the spot story from Miss Judy.

Lunch time is another great adventure. Introducing new foods, enjoying upgrades on the older menus is always a treat for the eater. Those who are reluctant to eat usually come round because the children will encourage anyone with the oohs and the aahs. Piggy Pie, breakfast for lunch, fresh fish, lasagna, spaghetti, baked chicken, fresh strawberries, fresh pineapple, dipping veggies and a favorite nutritious dip might grace every little table of friends who enjoy lunch together. French class is toward the end of lunch time.

In the afternoon, after another recess, children gather for music. Our children are practicing their Civil War songs for a program for parents later this month called Spring Sing. We will be singing some "just for fun songs" as well.

Then we begin what we call the "relaxed" classes. For an hour and a half, teachers as a team introduce subjects to the whole group that children love. Last week we did a series on insects. Children were introduced to information about insects from many books and science materials on hand. Then there is a huge art project with string, clay, paint, tubes, and tissue paper that allows children to explore building a bug, making a spider web, making the spider and painting the intricacies of butterfly wings. Great stuff. Vocabulary is introduced, some geography, some experiences, and lots of science. The children's art is put up on the wall for everyone to enjoy. Every day the art is changed, because the new creations take the place of yesterday's things, and yesterday's things go home.

Then it's recess again and then snack. On Friday we had everything bars - whole grain flour, whole oats, raisins, coconut, dark chocolate, butterscotch, white chocolate, fresh farm eggs, (much reduced sugar) and real butter make a delicious snack.

Children end their day with story time, puzzles, a little coloring and smiles galore when a loving parent comes to the door and calls them home. It's a great day in a little place for little people.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Saturday's Something new Under the Sun

Sunscreen

Q&A with Dr. Ranella Hirsch

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 70 percent of adults do not apply sunscreen regularly and more than one-third of the U.S. population reported experiencing sunburn in the previous year. These are alarming statistics, especially since melanoma and sun-induced skin cancers are increasing each year. Here, Dr. Ranella Hirsch, noted Boston dermatologist, explains how to properly apply sunscreen so your skin is protected from the sun’s harmful UV rays.

Q: When should you use sunscreen?

Dr. Hirsch: The American Academy of Dermatology recommends that a broad-spectrum water-resistant sunscreen of at least SPF 30 be used year round.

Q: Where should you apply sunscreen?

Dr. Hirsch: Sunscreen should be applied to any exposed skin. This includes, minimally, the face, dĂ©colletĂ©, and backs of hands and forearms, but should be adapted for an individual’s weather and clothing.

Q: If you’re using a sunscreen on your face, what should the order be (if you’re also using makeup etc.?)

Dr. Hirsch: Always apply sunscreen first.

Q: When should you apply sunscreen?

Dr. Hirsch: Always apply at least 30 minutes before going outdoors.

Q: How much sunscreen needs to be applied to the face and body and how often should you reapply?

Dr. Hirsch: One ounce, or the amount needed to fill a shot glass, is considered to be an ample amount to protect exposed skin. Sunscreen should be reapplied every two hours and more frequently if you are sweating or swimming.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Scholastic Book Fair


It's time for the book fair to begin. We will be placing a small collection box for loose change at the front of the school. By placing your loose change in our box, we collect three times! Whatever we collect goes towards books for the children. The same amount goes toward books for a charity we choose, so give us your input! And the same amount goes to a program that distributes books around the world to children who don't have any. This is a great way to kick off our bookfair. Please let your child put a few pennies into the box as often as you remember. It's a wonderful way to make children smile! More about the book fair later!

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Wacky and Wonderful Wednesday




Some great new pictures for a Wednesday!

It was quite a feat to keep me away from school over the weekend, but they managed and when I arrived on Sunday with a truckload of food, the whole faculty was there with the surprise of a lifetime. Painted, pretty, and filled with love. You can see just how much the kids are enjoying this new room!

Monday, April 04, 2011

Monday's Tattler


Good Morning!

It's more or less a regular school week. No field trips. We are still practicing our Civil War songs for Spring Sing, and we are getting ready for the Scholastic Book Fair.

Miss Leigh will be visiting us tomorrow. She will stay for the morning and have lunch. It's her favorite - breakfast for lunch with bacon.

This weekend, as a present for Miss Judy, the whole staff got together and painted the pet or zoo room. It is magnificent. Please spend some time visiting in there tomorrow and this week. It's beautiful and filled with love. It was so unexpected. I am so pleased.

I can't tell you how much this meant to me. The work, the talent, the time, the effort, and the thought. When does a faculty come together and do something as fantastic as this for someone? I truly feel loved and respected. The zoo room is not everyone's gig, but it's mine, and knowing that people love me enough to add to this is a tremendous tribute to friendship. I am truly blessed - and so surprised.

After shopping for the school groceries today, the faculty was there to welcome me - it was a little scary - couldn't understand why every one was there on a Sunday... and then they showed me the room. So excited.

Have a great week!

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Sunday's Plate


Getting picky children to eat is an ongoing problem that moves from one set of parents to another. Someone is always suffering from Picky Child Syndrome. And for parents experiencing it for the first time, it's a nightmare. Most parents want to know if their child will become ill from not eating. The answer is, he could if the proper nutrition evades him for long periods of time. But he won't starve to death.

Here are some of the picky eaters who have graced the Garden School:

"I eat nothing but Barbie Cereal and ice cream."

"I eat nothing but fast food cheeseburgers and fries - mostly McDonald's."

"I don't eat meat, eggs, cheese, vegetables, fruit, bread, noodles, rice or crackers."

"I don't eat anything but snack."

"My mother always rescues me and takes me to the ice cream store. All I have to do is cry and vomit first."

"I only eat food separated in bowls. A big treat is when my dad takes me out to lunch and makes me a bowl of oatmeal."

"I don't eat anything white."

"If I never ate again; it would be fine with me."

"I don't eat what doesn't have my particular archetype standard. Let me see the bag or the box first."

They are all the same...they have a definite palate that knows all four tastes very well. Just as non picky kids never know the four tastes and will tell you they are all salty or all sweet when tested, the pickies are always sure and will invariably know the difference, and they like few of them. Some of the pickies are salt lovers and some are sweet lovers - it's usually one or the other.

The pickies are not interested in discovering food, tastes, or anything concerned with eating. They mistrust new taste treat delights as much as an adult would mistrust a snake hissing from his plate. Something happened along the way to make a picky picky. Changing this picky is not going to happen for a few years - when the hint of puberty is calling and the growing amazes even the picky into the hungry desire for more calories.

So in the mean time, how do you handle the no eating, because a picky child will endeavor to escape all culinary demands that are not included in his meager diet.

First, know that there could be tears, long hours at the table, and vomit to secure the point that "I WILL NOT EAT!" So that is what parents are up against.

Second, know that the parent is the provider of food - especially the mother - so the battle is usually between mother and child.

Third, remember that food is a compromise between what a child should eat and what a child will eat.

Fourth, develop a strategy that never involves tears, long hours at the table and vomit. Life is too short and too precious to make the situation worse.

If you are determined that your child will eat, best to give him what he wants when he wants it because there are two things you can't do - make a child eat or make him poop. He's on his own with both of these things.

If you want to encourage your child out of the pickies, take the stress off. If he eats, great, if he doesn't, he will become hungry eventually. If he doesn't want his breakfast, lunch or dinner, give him five minutes to eat it, and then throw the food away. If he cries at that point, he's playing the parent for a fool.

Remember, it is up to the parent to buy food for the family. If parents want children to eat a good diet, then only buy food that is good for the child and stop buying the junk he only wants to eat. Children will avoid meals every time if the snack is available and looming in the near future.

If the parent doesn't care so long as the child eats, then the sky is the limit.

If meal time is important to parents, then the child should be offered what the rest of the family is eating. Five minutes - and throw it out - right into the garbage right in front of the child. (Had a mom do this to her husband once, and it worked; he stopped being picky!) Don't say a word. Pitch and return to the table for a lovely meal because parents deserve a stress free dinner.

If children ask for food after having their dinners pitched, the answer is anything a parent thinks appropriate. Some parents will opt to give the child a second chance on dinner with leftovers. Some parents will opt to give the child the treat he has been desiring. Some parents will simply say "No."

The whole idea with food is to neutralize the control issue. By de-stressing meals, kids will adjust to the rules and live by them, but be consistent. It can't be one thing one day and one thing another. And never feel sorry for a child who misses out on dessert, treats, or that great snack...he's setting the standards, not the parent.

And just a little FYI - many many children don't eat after 4:00 p.m. Their systems shut down, so try this: at dinner time, allow the child to have a protein like a hard boiled egg, a piece of cold sausage, peanut butter or a good piece of cheese, a fruit and veggie like half a banana or half an apple or half an orange or some dipping carrots or broccoli, and some good grain product like whole grain crackers or half a piece of bread.

The food battle is as much in the eye of the beholder as anything parents choose to make a big deal about.