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.

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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

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."

April is Autsim Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness Month

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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'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'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, décolleté, 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.

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!

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'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'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.

Infant, Toddler or Preschooler? by Judy Lyden

One of my beloved parents who is studying nursing asked me today what I thought nurses should know about preschoolers. My first thought was "that they are not toddlers." This lead to a lively discussion of stages of development.

Nature is not as kind to baby lovers as it is to preschool lovers. Mothers get one year to dote on their infant as an infant. Once a child is walking, and that usually happens at about a year, the child is not an infant anymore. It's time to let go of the infant care and begin to dote on the child as a toddler. A child who is walking should walk; a child who is beginning to use words should be encouraged to use those words; a child who is grabbing food from your plate should be given his own; a child who is moving away from a parent on his own recourse should be taught the word "NO!"

During the toddler years - and you get two - parents should make sure that a child learns to do certain things. It's building the foundation for his life, and there are windows of opportunity that should be allowed to be opened so that learning can occur. One of these things is mobility. I once had a friend who would not let her child play on the carpet because it was dirty. The child never got to move inside his own home. He never got to explore, play on the floor or experience anything but being chaired or penned. One wonders what a toll that took on his development.

Between the ages of one and three, children will want to do one thing more than anything else - run. Take a child anywhere, and he will race off because it feels great. He's directing his own power, his own body, he's learning. It's as if he's sixteen and has his first car and that car is a race car and it's all his. Wow!

The toddler should learn how to eat at a table. He should learn to use a spoon or a small fork. He should begin to drink his liquids from a cup. Sucky cups, or cups capped with a device for sucking, only breed sore throats, ear infections, bronchitis and strep. Children should learn how to handle a cup at meal times, and take a water break a couple of times between meals. Sucky cups filled with juice breed not only illness, but rotten teeth and contribute to obesity. Table rules should begin to apply to the toddler who is sitting with his parents. This is where the word "NO" comes in.

"NO" is the command word that trains a child to understand that which is permissible and that which is not. Toddlers don't need long explanations, they don't need to be talked into anything, and they don't need to know why or why not. They just need the "NO" and it should be loud and firm. Toddlers don't have the cognitive skills to wonder why.

Toddlers need to be toilet trained. This is something that should always be completed by age three, because there are cognitive skills that children can't acquire until toileting is achieved. The optimum age to train most children is eighteen to twenty-six months. If a child is not read at this point, the parent is not treating the toddler like a toddler, but instead, the parent is treating the child as an infant. Stealing time from a toddler to make him an infant is simply unfair.

Toddlers should be encouraged to speak in full sentences as soon as possible. A child tries to communicate from birth, so listen to him, talk to him, and ask him questions. A child who speaks well at two has parents who want their child to achieve great things, because communication means getting your point across easily. Poor communicators will always be poor communicators. Don't speak for your child; let him speak!

In the toddler years, a child should be given the choice of the red one or the blue one; what ice cream flavor, which of two dresses, and if they would like a second ride on the carousel. But a toddler does not choose his bedtime, what he will watch on TV, or whether he will bathe or not.

Difficult children who will not learn "NO" and will not take direction, and demand to be allowed to make adult choices need one thing: a cry space, a place in the house where they can scream out their anger, their frustration, and their disappointment. When a child is finished his nasty little tantrum, he is welcomed to come play again. Firm parents who never cave will bring a difficult child into line quickly and that's always best for the child and for the family and for development.

At three, children who have accomplished all that is necessary as a toddler, will move into the preschool years with ease. At three, children need to begin to listen, and they will want to listen, because they understand that they learn from listening. They learn to listen and then they listen to learn. They can't listen well at two because at two, most children are the Narcissus of Pool. They are so busy indulging themselves, they don't notice anyone else in the world. At three, they are bored with Narcissus, and it's time to explore and discover other things and other people. Listening skills develop over the next three years, or the preschool years. These are extremely important years because this is where their student habits will come from. A successful listener will always be at the top of his class.

Threes hone manners, social skills, rules, and "doing" skills. Art works for a developed three year old as does singing, memorizing, letter learning and simple arithmetic. Threes can be taught languages, songs, and many facts. They may not understand the facts, but they can learn them.

And what happens after?

Threes listen; fours write; fives discover imagination; sixes are fixed for ever - and I think I'll stay six now for ever and ever.

Exploring Details

My daughter, Molly, has been working for me since she was ten years old. She could get a line of kids straighter and quieter than anyone I've ever met. She's patient, funny, boisterous and commanding all at the same time. When Miss Molly walks into a room filled with kids, everyone pays attention.

I listen a lot to what she says. I find her insights and perceptions mostly on target. So a couple of weeks ago, while she was helping with one of our afternoon art projects, she said, "What these kids need is not to share."

"Mmmmmmmmmm?" I asked

"Every child needs his own stuff to use. Sharing only makes them crazy. The product is not as good, and the noise level when sharing is twice what it is when they have their own supplies."

I listened. There is a passion in someone who is always looking for a better mousetrap, and Miss Molly is one of those very special mousetrapians who is determined to replace time-weary practices and worn out uses with something bright, fun and smart-smart for the sake of the children in her care. In fact, her slogan today had something to do with "how big is dumb?" This kind of question is the impetus to finding much better mousetraps.

In building this better "supply" mousetrap, I asked her what she needed. That's my job - complimenting hers. I'm the problem solver for the mousetrapian! She wasn't sure, but it had to involve paint, crayons, glue, and other usable media.

While I was visiting the Dollar Store, I found some summer condiment bowls. I bought forty and trays to match. Now every child can have a small bowl of crayons to use without someone grabbing his or hers out of his or her hand or waiting for someone to finish using a color. The peace is remarkable.

With paint, I suggested the two ounce disposable condiment cups with lids. We tried this for paint and it's a lot of paint. So Miss Molly put on her thinking cap and bought the weekly size pill dispensers. I bought paint that comes with a plunger, and it's going to be a match made in heaven.

Glue will be put out on squares of paper rather than common bowls.

Why is this such a big deal and why does it really matter? Children are our business, and we care what they do, how they do it, and we care about the result. Many people say, "It's not the product, but the process." That might be true when you are teaching children age two, or children who are developmentally two, but by the time a child gets to be three, his art work is defining his skill, his intellect, his inner self, and if he's thwarted by a common glue pot, or paint that has been destroyed by another child, or crayons that he has to wait to use, he's not getting the full scope of education nor exploration.

We want children to know that everything they do is important to them, to us, and to parents. We want children to understand that their work counts and is a tribute to what they know and understand. Not everything goes into the folders at school, but when something is well done and worth taking home, that child will find that work in his folder.

It's the details of life that help make the whole picture work well. If individual paint pots create a harmonious and artistic environment, then that's the direction we will take. I just thank Miss Molly for her mousetrapian skills!

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning!

We are back to regular classes today. It's always good to be back to class after the play and Spring Break with a new and exciting classroom lay out. This makes teaching and doing things with the kids so much easier. Everything is clean, bright, and de-junked! So glad to see the school in such good shape.

We will start science this week and combine it with art which should be very interesting and fun. Lots of new art supplies have been purchased and are on their way. Love to see some truly nice work from our magnificent children.

Alexis's dad came by the school yesterday and put in a little sound system for us. We are truly grateful and so delighted to have this. We have always wanted to play fine examples of great music for the kids but have never had the facility to do it. Now we can, and the sound system sounds great. Still looking for a new record player...hint, hint.

Lots of new stuff int he hopper.

Have a great week!

My Home by Judy Lyden

I love being at home. I love being surrounded by the people and things I love. While cleaning this weekend, and that does not come to pass often because I am rarely at home during the day, I dusted and cleaned a thousand mementos, pictures and keepsakes that I've saved or collected over the years. Each one brought a new thought to mind about the person who gave it to me. I have a lot to treasure and a lot to take care of.

My home is not the typical home. I live in an antique house built as a barn in 1830 in a town called Sprinklesburg. Sprinklesburg became Newburgh, and the land grant given by James Madison began to take shape as a fine house, my barn, two slave houses and a tobacco barn. At the turn of the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth, my house was turned into a duplex and for nearly sixty years, it had family after family living in it. In 1959, it was remodeled as a one family home by a family named Missy. The Missys added a mud room, a bathroom and a bedroom sans heat and then sold the house and the house was passed from person to person until Terry and I bought it in 1974.

What I originally liked about the house was the way the house lives. There are two front rooms - the original living room and the dining room - both with fireplaces. Behind the two front rooms are a kitchen and what we call the downstairs library or the transition room because we added on 800 square feet to create a real family room and one must pass through this "transition" room to go from old house to new house - there is one step down.

Upstairs there are three bedrooms and a master suite - five rooms altogether - and two full baths. The smallest bedroom is tiny at 13x13, and the largest is 20x20. There are dormers and walk in closets with windows. One of the rooms is a library with wall to wall books.

The bathrooms are very small and sport tubs, showers, sinks, commodes and a small built in linen closet. Simple simple.

The kitchen is antique, and I've kept it that way. There is a small built-in with a sink, a refrigerator parked in what was once a closet, and a stove in an alcove, but all other furniture is antique. The floor is real brick. The kitchen is small, but large enough for a rocking chair that catches the light from a large window. There is a window over the sink.

The floors, with the exception of the brick kitchen floor and the family room floor are hardwood. I am an area rug person and not a wall to wall carpet person because I have cats. Most people would say the house is charming. But it was not always charming.

When we bought the house nothing worked. Not a toilet would flush and there was a hot water heater sitting in the back yard. The kitchen was so filthy, we scraped rather than cleaned, and the bedrooms were not much better. The downstairs bathroom had been used as a cat box and five floors had been eaten way by cat urine.

We didn't have a lot of money to spend in the early days, and we had to do a lot of make-shifting and doing without and waiting. There were times we closed off bathrooms, waited on plumbing, went without air conditioning, plugged holes in the roof and ripped carpet out and lived with unfinished floors, but little by little we've cleaned and re-papered and painted and added on the new addition until the house lives like a dream - still too cold in the winter, but we're working on it.

Now, when much of the work has been done, I think it's all been for a good cause. I wanted a constant place with character where I could rear my kids. I wanted a place where they could explore and grow and walk to school and to things of interest all on their own. I wanted a place that would go up in value and not have to be ditched at some point because the neighborhood was dying.

I wanted a place where my husband and I could grow old and enjoy our memories and mementos and visits from our grown children and grandchildren. I wanted a place where I could grow a garden that had purpose and would be an outlet and a craft. And I knew that just having the building and the land would not be enough. Anyone can buy a home and live in it for a few years and then move on. That's what my parents did - seventeen times in seventeen years - and that's not what I wanted. I wanted an "always" place.

I wanted a place that I would never mind cleaning, never mind painting, never mind spending the day re-arranging furniture or changing a wall arrangement. These are the things that should delight us domestically because they have the purpose of helping us to build our lives and create great memories.

Along with the house, the way we lived and still live contribute to our "home." Our home was always open to our children's friends, to slumber parties, late night last minutes, and a big breakfast the following day. We encouraged our children to develop interests and goals that they could take with them when they left. I am still picking up pieces of my son's nuclear accelerator from my bedroom carpet twenty years later. We always ate at 6:00 p.m. - and still do every evening. Dinner preparation has always been a big part of our life - it's a "count on" thing that creates an understanding that we care about ourselves and our time together. The sun goes over the yardarm here at 5:00 p.m. every evening - always has - always will. We love to walk by the river - it's still there even after all these years, lol. I love to visit the downtown stores. We take interest in our neighbors, our old friends, and the children of our old friends. We are good neighbors even now that we are probably the oldest couple on the block. At one time we were the youngest.

And the constancy and development of building what we have built allows us to be better at doing what we do for a living. Our own foundation helps us create a stability and rock hard foundation for the children in our care at school - and that's how it should be. Life matters, and teaching this to children is not hard when you spend a lifetime making it matter. Building a home and increasing it's joy is the goal.

Recipe for Piggy Pie

Lots of families have asked for this recipe because children and men love it, it's easy to make, it lasts in the fridge and most families have the ingredients at home.

You bake as many pork chops or pork steaks as you need to feed your family. This insures the grease is baked out of the meat. You can even bake these pork pieces on a rack.

Once baked, cut the meat into bite sized pieces and place pieces into a broad bottomed pot.

Add equal amounts of brown sugar, catchup, and fruit juice. For every pound of meat add about 1/4 cup each. Bring mix to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes. Mix should be thick and not particularly runny.

Serve over whole grain noodles.

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning!

This short week - we are out of school Thursday and Friday - will be spent on spring cleaning!

Everybody works. We are re-arranging the school and re-building some of our play areas and classrooms. Kids will love this because they get to work with us making their school a better place.

Lots of outdoor play in this fine weather and some nice art projects in the p.m.

It's a great time of the year.

Tuesday's Teacher

As a school owner, one of the things that has baffled me over the years has been the "classroom" question. Somehow, ownership of classrooms has nearly always been one of the separators that brings disharmony rather than harmony to the school. As a non classroom teacher, I've never understood having my own space - one more in my life - to keep clean and orderly. If having one's own space allows someone to view their teaching position as some kind of golden girl top-dog gig, that's not going to work in a group activity place where the team is where the focus should be.

Public school teachers who have worked for me have often brought some failing concepts with them that revolve around the "my space" concept. That concept begins with "my class is the only thing that really matters, all the rest is babysitting and housework, and I really don't want or think I should have to do it."

One of the great tragedies and failures of the public school system is a lack of teamwork and effort that isolates teachers and learning. When classes are finite entities, the learning stops at the door.

More than anything else, I believe that for children ages 3-6, teachers need to be united and work in every capacity as a team. No one teacher has all the artistic or intellectual parts for every job. Some teachers are organizational masters while others are detailers, and still others are better with art while others are better with concepts and for young children, the sharing of talents really works. Not every teacher is a literary whiz or can explain to children why the Norman Conquest worked!

Getting back to the individual classroom...over the years I have seen classrooms go from picked clean to a disgrace that needed three women to spend 25 hours cleaning just to turn it over to another teacher who does no better keeping it clean and orderly than the slob with the dead plants and the six month old mouse carcass. Can't tell you how often, daily, I travel into classrooms and see a mess that is so big and so tall, there is no way at all.... dust, un-watered plants, stacks of fire hazard paper, left overs, art projects from children who were graduated three years before and the proverbial coffee cup that was growing something but quit...

And if that is not bad enough, the very idea that one would covet that kind of mess only complicates the chaos, and top that with the fact that this sacrosanct space is "off limits" when teachers are gone for the day... I think I've lost a thousand square feet of usable space by 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon.

What to do...what to do...

This week we will be discussing making ALL our space multiple use and taking the ownership out of the classrooms. Every teacher will be expected to use the space most usable to the particular subject being taught as they are taught for the betterment of teaching and for the delight of the children. We will have a handwriting, music, video room. We will have a reading, geography, fine arts room. The main room will continue to be used for math, general play, science, and arts and crafts. Each room will be set up to use in the best capacity possible.

Teachers will use the classroom that is best for the children's needs. There will no longer be a reason for personal effects in any classroom, and every classroom will be kept neat and clean by the teacher who uses it last.

As a school whose basic tenet is "group participation and team effort" the whole idea of working for the sake of the children we teach is tantamount to what is important first. Every teacher will be able to go behind quietly closed doors and teach without worrying that they are trespassing into someone's sacred ground. What a splendid development!

I love this new group, team positive effort. Can't wait to get started.

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning!

A great rainy day...just the day to get some work done at school on the play. Lots to do, lots to do!

This Friday we will be having our play. It is at 3:00 p.m. Children have costumes and will be beginning the first act promptly at 3:00. Every child is expected to have an adult at the play.

The Garden School is a group activity place, and we work as a team to produce these plays. Everyone plays a part and as a result, every child's role is important. Please remember to check your child's lines this week.

We are not passing out candy during lent. Children receive candy and prizes during Lent that goes into a little bag at the back of the school. When they go home for Easter on Holy Thursday, the candy they have earned goes home with them in their Easter baskets.

Questions? Ask a teacher. Have a great week!

Thursday's Thought

A well rounded child knows how to pray. It's like anything else- we learn how to speak to others, how to play well on the playing field. We learn how to behave in a restaurant, at the movies, and generally in public. We learn how to use a public bathroom with decorum. We learn all these things, and many many more, during our formation years - ages 3-5. There have been several people who have not brought their children to the Garden School over the years because they have a fear of prayer and of God and do not want their children exposed to anything that they think is of creator status. That is their prerogative.

In some places, prayer is being replaced with nothing - but not at the Garden School. I would not be presumptuous and and demand that every child pray. Prayer is an individual choice. But for those who desire prayer, we set aside a time before and after meals and in circle time to praise and petition God. If a child does not desire prayer, he may be still, but he will not disrupt the children who desire prayer. This time is a time to learn how to pray. For those whose parents practice prayer at home, this is not a strange thing. When children do not learn how to pray or what to say, they will not incur the habit, and prayer, like anything else, is a habit. We want to at least offer children the habit of prayer.

We have all learned the Our Father as a memorized prayer. We have learned to ask for blessings on our families, each other, the ill, dying, and those in nursing homes. We pray for our soldiers and all those who serve us. We pray for government and for the animals we love who are out in poor weather. We have learned to pray for good weather and snow storms! We have learned to ask the group to pray for special intentions and things we need and want.

Today, we will learn how to pray for others in crisis. We will pray for Japan. We have learned where Japan is on the map, and we have learned some interesting things about Japan, and we will ask God to make good come from this crisis.

Prayer is a way of life. Some adopt it early and keep it as a treasure all their lives. Some don't. But offering a way and a means and a habit is never a bad idea.

Blessings today from us to you.

Wednesday's Wonder

GARFIELD ON THE OIL CRISIS

A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in our country.
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Well, there's a very simple answer.
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Nobody bothered to check the oil.
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We just didn't know we were getting low.
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The reason for that is purely geographical.
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Our OIL is located in:
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ALASKA
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California
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Coastal Florida
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Coastal Louisiana
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Coastal Alabama
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Coastal Mississippi
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Coastal Texas
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North Dakota
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Wyoming
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Colorado
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Kansas
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Oklahoma
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Pennsylvania
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And
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Texas
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Our dipsticks are located in DC
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Any Questions? NO? Didn't think So.

Tuesday's Teacher

Field trips are fun. We've arranged a field trip for Ash Wednesday to St. Meinrad. It's a wonderful place the children will love. It's almost magical and well worth the hours trip on the bus. While shopping this afternoon, I met a fourth grade teacher who could not believe that we would take children as young as three on a field trip anywhere. She just shook her head and wandered away.

I wanted to remind her that field trips teach children about the world, but some people are best "wandered off." Field trips should not send parents, teachers or providers into orbit. The wonderful world of field trips is easy with some planning and should model the home where children frequently leave to go places and do things weekly or at least monthly.

Creating a field trip program is a snap when providers know they have a cohesive group - parents, teachers and students. Behavioral expectations should be high. If solid, dependable discipline is a part of the childcare program, everyone gets a lot from the special event of field trips.

Field trips should always be earned. Children constantly causing disruptive chaos in childcare should stay home. Because of the nature of being out in the world can be dangerous. It makes sense that field trips belong to the always well behaved.

Field trips are not all equal. Some field trips offer mind awakening and thought provoking adventure: national parks, museums, local events, city parks, zoos, orchards, farms, pet stores, horse races, historic sites, libraries, churches and other places of interest.

Just for fun field trips include: swimming, jungle gym equipped parks, indoor tumbling arenas, movies, outdoor activities like romps in the woods.

Field trips are expensive no matter what is arranged. Hiring a bus costs between one hundred and a thousand dollars a day depending on the destination. Then there are admission fees, supplies and lunch. How can these expenses be met fairly and with affection?

A field trip fee should be an up front expense. It should declare to parents that this childcare station is a busy exciting place. It should not be so expensive that children can't go. By allowing parents to pay off the field trip fee, it becomes user friendly and accommodating to parents who struggle with payments and special events, and it becomes doable.

Lunch should be a part of the field trip fun. Providing a balanced, nutritious lunch on a field trip is a breeze when providers put children first and cater to young tastes. Sandwiches are fun if they are fresh and cut into pieces children can handle. Little people like little bites.

The uniform for field trips should never vary. Smart places will put children in like bright t-shirts or sweatshirts with school or program names. This makes them identifiable at a glance. It allows children more freedom to move around on field trips, and most t-shirts don’t cost as much as regular play clothes.

Tie shoes and socks, shorts or pants only are always in keeping with good sense. Complicated clothes and dresses only hinder the ratio of teachers to children when it’s potty time.

Children should be versed in maintaining lines and being able to be quiet for certain periods of time so that learning occurs. Good manners always prevail and should be encouraged by teachers and parents. A hearty thank you makes a lot of difference when the trip is being completed.

Making field trips available and fun is in the heart of those who love the children.

Monday's Tattler

Good Morning!

Another brilliant week of play practice! The more the kids know their lines, the more other things we can do during the day.

We still need to paint our dragon, Miss Lisa wants to make paper with the children; Miss Judy wants to do some mosaic work and and we need to start collecting some art work for a portfolio and then there is Spring Sing... etc. etc... always something in the hopper!

We are still enrolling for summer. Please get your reservation in early. When we get to #50, we cannot take any more children!

Please dress your children appropriately for weather.

Lent begins on Wednesday. Every Lent we do something with the kids in the form of a work offering. It's called a Bona Opera. Please read your child's Bona Opera or Good Work and keep him in mind these next forty days.

Trying to get a field trip to St. Meinrad for Wednesday. Will let everyone know Monday P.M. I have not arranged this because of rain, but it looks like the rain will end by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday!

Have a great week!

Sunday's Plate

I've been making a lot of lasagnas lately, and the children just love them. It's usually a cumbersome, long job that never seems to end, but we've found some shortcuts, and today I'm going to share them with you so that lasagna becomes a twenty minute prep for you too!

Buy the best, least fat ground meat you can. I usually buy round - it requires little draining. I brown about 2 lbs of meat for forty children and add two cans of tomato sauce and Italian spices and garlic salt and set aside. (At home, if you use veggies, brown veggies with the meat.)

I buy oven ready lasagna noodles - not the best health quality, but I only know of only one whole grain lasagna noodle, and the only place to get them is the Grocery Outlet in Newburgh and they take an hour to make.

I mix a gallon of cottage cheese, two cups of Parmesan cheese and five eggs in a bowl, mix and set aside. At home, a pint of cottage, 1/2 cup Parmesan and two eggs will do. ( Eggs keep cottage from melting away.)

Spray your pan with pan coat; spread two layers of noodles; put your cottage mix on noodles; more noodles; sauce; shredded mozzarella on last and bake 350 degrees until top is brown and sides are bubbly.

For more industrious dinner makers, make more thin layers. For school, I do one layer each because it all looks the same when you serve it no matter how many layers there are.

This is the fastest lasagna I know - about twenty minutes.

Saturday's Under the Sun

Here's a new recipe for a dish called Carbonara. It's an Italian bacon and eggs meal that is one of my favorites. Miss Molly made this simple.

Make your favorite noodles and keep them warm while you:

For a family of four, cut a pound of bacon with a scissors into a frying pan and cook until pieces are brown. Add onions and mushrooms if that sounds good to you. I use portabella mushrooms, and they are delicious! Set aside in a bowl.

Melt a stick of butter and a package of cream cheese in a two cups of milk in a frying pan. Bring to a boil. Add 1.5 cups Parmesan cheese and a teaspoon of garlic powder. When mix is thick - about three minutes, add your bacon and veggies and pour over noodles.

That's it - a fantastic taste.

Friday's Tattler

This has been a surprising week with Campaign speeches on Monday and the Election on Tuesday. The children each knew who they wanted to vote for without hesitation. Every child knew what he was doing and went about his business with intent.

Garrett won the Presidency, and Kayla won the Vice Presidency. We are so proud of these children. They are truly loved.

The children have learned a lot of their lines for the play and have gotten some really excellent coaching from Miss Lisa. She is a natural director. She is so alive and earnest when she directs the children, I am thrilled to see a young person take so much interest and do such a good job.

It's a longer play this year, and the characters are delightfully cast. The costumes are coming along nicely. It's a group effort.

We should be ready by the 18th for a great production. This year we will move the stage way back into dress up so that more parents can be more comfortable watching.

We culminated the week with a Knowledge Bee involving play lines. The kids gobbled up the poker chips every time it was their turn to recite a line.

There is not a lot of time for much more than play practice during the week. We have done some art and played a lot outside when the weather permitted. There are some classes in the a.m. and we are trying to get some music sung in the p.m., but mostly, we are working on the play.

The kids are really enjoying the egg rolls we are making on Thursdays. It's been fun to see them taste with delight.

Thursday's Thought

I’m not a political person. I don’t like politics. In my heart I wonder why people deliberately seek out a life that is the near occasion of being shady. Maybe it’s an attempt at chivalry. How much dragon fire can I endure before I succumb?

I wonder if this is what the clever child sees? Are astute children who read wonderful stories of genuinely virtuous people able to turn to TV and watch the frightful assaults made by smiling candidates and see the tarnish on the shields?

In order to understand why someone I admire would go into politics, I’ve started reading biographies of the presidents beginning with the Teddy Roosevelt biographies by Morris.

What I’ve discovered is a magnificent man who not only sought a life of political power, but was in fact a genuine and brilliant knight dedicated like Lancelot to the nation, but unlike Lancelot, he kept all his promises. But it all had to start someplace, and it started in his youth.

Teddy Roosevelt was extraordinarily hyperactive which amuses me to no end. It was obvious by page ten that this child was a ten count hyperactive, a mezomorph whose natural bodily ailments he would not only numbly ignore, but scorn with unusual bravery.

His graying asthma, which nearly killed him on several occasions, was disregarded in favor of twenty mile hikes, mountain climbs and freezing swims in icy rivers and streams. His father once made him inhale cigar smoke to calm his asthma. Then there were the chronic bouts of something he called moribundus. He had chronic diarrhea all his life.

At one point, his father told him that he had a superior mind, but his body was a shambles and needed remaking. So at the ripe age of about fifteen he began to rebuild his body. He put himself to the constant test as many hyperactives do, and enjoyed the spirit of physical endurance.

As President of the United States, Theodore would play a game he called Single Sticks or bats. He and a friend would go at each other with bats with the intent to do bodily harm. He often went to receiving lines limping and unable to use his right arm to shake hands.

At one point, he had a huge infectious mass removed from his leg without any anesthetic. This was done between speeches and other engagements. Just one of many things he did during that particular day.

As a child, he was constantly dragging dead things into his home and performing taxidermy on them. He had more mummies than Egypt. There was always a dead creature on his dresser and its entrails in his drawer. The Roosevelts had trouble keeping hired help.

Theodore had difficulty with people. He was too direct. Hyperactive people often are, and because they have force behind the action, they are often feared. He could be brutally honest and because he was always aimed in a single direction, he came across as a freight train barreling through other men’s ideas with a clarity that was almost frightening.

As a child, Theodore was an avid reader. He read voraciously throughout his life in English, French, and German. The extraordinary discipline it took to do this is astounding.

His love of nature and his ability to think allowed him to publish his first science work in his teens. Theodore published one book after another all his life.

As I read the last of three books on Teddy Roosevelt, by Morris, I am stunned by the immense production of this man’s life. He was a main participant in the Mexican American War; he was a Nobel Prize winner; he was the man who first set National wilderness lands aside for our posterity; he built the Panama Canal; he was President of the United States; he provided the specimens for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Science; he fathered six children; most of what he wrote was published – just to list the top of the mountain of things he achieved.

Comparing Theodore Roosevelt and the politicians we now have is no comparison, but it does allow this reader to understand more about the life of someone outstanding who is engaged in what we call politics.

Wednesday's Wonder

40 years of marriage..

A married couple in their early 60s was celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in a quiet, romantic little restaurant.
Suddenly, a tiny yet beautiful fairy appeared on their table. She said, 'For being such an exemplary married couple and for being loving to each other for all this time, I will grant you each a wish.'

The wife answered, 'Oh, I want to travel around the world with my darling husband
The fairy waved her magic wand and - poof! - two tickets for the Queen Mary II appeared in her hands.

The husband thought for a moment: 'Well, this is all very romantic, but an opportunity like this will never come again. I'm sorry my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me.
The wife, and the fairy, were deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish.

So the fairy waved her magic wand and poof!... the husband became 92 years old.

The moral of this story:
Men are ungrateful and remember fairies are female.....

SEND THIS TO A WOMAN WHO NEEDS A GOOD LAUGH . AND TO ANY MAN WHO CAN HANDL