Good Morning! As I water my garden again, I realize it’s going to be a lovely summer day at the end of September! I think back to summer and how this kind of day would have been a blessing because it will be warm without being stifling! I know many people are looking for the cooler crisper fall days, but the fall- winter stretch is a long one, so I’m going to be positive about the day. I do, however, think we would all be renewed by a nice long rain. I know my garden would.

This week we will talk about families and how we fit into families – our families. Who are we, and how do we blend into our family; how do we make a difference in our family; what do we do for our families?

Family portraits are wonderful representations of who we think we are and how we think we fit into families. Over the years, there have been some hilarious pictures drawn. The child who makes himself the center of the picture and larger than either mom or dad. There have been portraits drawn that put siblings so far into the background they almost don’t exist. There have been pictures where someone is missing or someone’s body part is so large it takes command of the picture. So look at your child’s family portrait if you want to know what your child thinks.

This Friday is Grandparents’ Tea. It’s a social occasion and a party. It begins at 3:00 p.m. and includes at least one mandatory guest for each child. Please talk to Miss Judy if you have trouble providing a guest. Your guest does not have to be a grandparent.

We ask that you help contribute a snack for the party. It should be something to be shared with four people. A small bag of chips, peanuts, cupcakes, cookies, fruit, veggies, popcorn, etc. Drinks will be provided. We ask that children take one goodie at a time and not mound napkins and cups with a lot of treats that will end up in the trash can.

Parties end at about 4:00. Every Garden School party is on Friday at 3:00 p.m. We choose this time because most people can take a little comp time then.

Have a good week! The picture is from career week.

Good Friday Morning!

We had a great trip yesterday. It was quick because our time restraints were quick, but it was fun and well worth doing. We got on the bus about 10:00 and drove down to Owensboro KY through Newburgh and Reo and then across the bridge. It was a beautiful day, hot and dry. Glad the kids wore shorts! That sun is still pretty strong.

The Botanical Gardens are developing a wonderful family place with a rose garden, an herb garden and a pond and many expanses of grass. There is an education building with live samples of insects and a great informative movie. There is a wonderful brand new play house.

The gigantic insects that dot the gardens and the grass are constructed out of what looks like bent willow. They are quite large and we walked under the praying mantis and the ants. There are dragon and damsel flies in the pond and a lady bug in the rose garden and an assassin beetle in the herb garden and a grass hopper in the field. The insects have been beautifully preserved and are quite nice to look at.

The children’s response was wonderful. They enjoyed the outing, loved being outdoors, liked the insects that had been displayed in the education building. They had a brown recluse spider and a black widow spider along with a praying mantis and some ants.

Mrs. St. Louis found a beautiful garden spider and photographed it, but I’m not sure you can see it.

We loaded the bus at about 12:00 and came home through Newburgh again and stopped to pick
up some pizzas at Dominoes. Then it was back to school for a great fun lunch of pizza and fresh fruit.

After lunch I took the kids into Miss Amy’s classroom to talk about different occupations. The wheels are turning.

Next week is Grandparents Tea!

Edith sent this, and I thought it was a wonderful little piece to read and enter the weekend:

The Invisible Mother……

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I’m thinking, ‘Can’t you see I’m on the phone?’

Obviously, not.

No one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I’m invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? & Can you open this?
Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being. I’m a clock to ask, ‘What time is it?’ I’m a satellite guide to answer, ‘What number is the Disney Channel?’ I’m a car to order, ‘Right around 5:30, please.’

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, ‘I brought you this.’ It was a book on the great
cathedrals of Europe. I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription: ‘To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.’

In the days ahead I would read – no, devour – the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals – we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, ‘Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.’ And the workman replied, ‘Because God sees.’
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, ‘I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.’

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever
be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don’t want my daughter to tell the friend she’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, ‘My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.’
That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want her to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to her friend, to add, ‘you’re going to love it there.’

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot see if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!

Good Morning. It’s another deliciously cool morning. As I sit here just after 5:00 a.m., I am thinking about how nice the weather is. The children played out doors a lot yesterday. We initiated a new game – tag. It’s amazing how little children know about playing outside! So today we will begin teaching some of the old standards making games our scheme for the day.

Speaking of yesterday, we were working on phonemes yesterday – letter sounds, and I noticed that the attention span was really limited, so I thought, “What’s wrong?” and the answer was a visual to go with our audio. Children are not expected to invent or to substitute with their own imaginations, so sometimes to help bring forth something, a teacher must use all the tools she can find. I added our letter cards to the sound making and it went a lot better. My best “phonemer” is Jill. She repeats all the sounds and seems to understand what we are doing. Some of my kids are still silent. We have learned the letter sounds for A, E, I and yesterday we added some of the consonant sounds like M. I am hoping that the alphabet has a richer, deeper meaning than it has in past years.

Amy and I learned all about this method of teaching when we went to the first Department of Education workshop in August. On September 30 and October 1, we will be going to the Reading Readiness W0rkshop in Indy for more of the same thing.

We have changed our report card to a more comprehensive report about the children’s academic day. I think it will show who is teaching and how each child is doing. It’s important to us that parents know.

My French class is going great guns this year. The children are learning to inquire about one another, to greet each other, to count to 20, to follow body commands and to say the days of the week. We have begun to talk about objects and learn to say “I like that.” We have a surprise for you at Grandparents’ Tea.

My Theater Class is going great guns. We have all acted. Some children are stronger than others. It’s a matter of willingness to express ourselves with gusto, or hold back and dead pan it. Some children are lit on fire for this kind of theater activity. Addie is a real ham. Andrew just loves this kind of thing. India is a natural born actress. Austin tries very hard but can’t make the jump from real life to play. Kirsten is a natural but can’t get her body under control.

At lunch we are working on good manners. This week, we are washing and going to the table where we put our hands in our laps and wait for everyone to be seated. Then we pray together and begin to explore lunch. Yesterday we all tried baked beans and many children tried them for the first time. We had cheese hot dogs and watermelon and carrots and new dip made with honey. Today we will have a bacon and egg pie with a crust of hash browns.

Miss Amy tells me that in Fine Arts Music the children are listening to classical music and really loving it. In her special way, she has found a way to teach the children through body language and the children are responding brilliantly. They lie down and listen with relaxed bodies – makes the sound a welcoming and relaxing experience.

Miss Kelly is reviewing insects and the stages of insects’ development. We are going to the Owensboro botanical gardens on Thursday for the bug exhibit. Science is many children’s favorite subject. Yesterday, a spider was living in our teapot and found a rather nasty end landing in a cup of water for tea. Mrs. St. Louis found him, and we shared him with the kids.

More next time…

Good Morning!

This week in school we are working on “me.” Me from the beginning means me as a baby. We begin the week with a beautiful baby contest. Children will be able to share their pictures of “me” when “me” was just beginning. They will find this hilariously funny and parents can participate with voting for the “beautiful baby of their choice with pennies.” This always involves memories and perhaps a little “baby fever.” (Don’t panic. Molly was doing the baby fever thing and bought a dog and it worked. The little dog gave her something small to cradle and hug and even dress up! With three little stair step boys, the dog fits in nicely.)

Pictures are amazing family history. Children want to know about times when they are missing from pictures and albums. Have you ever been asked when a child sees you in a wedding picture as the bride or groom, and asks “Where was I?”

It’s also a question asked often when a family is big and the child has not been born yet but sees his or her siblings playing in pictures and they aren’t there. And so often I’ve answered, “In my hopes and dreams.” And then their baby picture surfaces in the album and the question goes away because children have no sense of time.

This week we are looking at “me” and when “me” grows up. What do they want to be? What work that they saw last week, or at home, or on TV will stimulate enough interest to get them started in thinking about the future? We asked one brother sister team once, and the brilliant little girl said, “A pizza man.” Her brother of dubious intellectual interest said, “The Vicar of Christ” (Catholic for Pope) so it’s always priceless. BTW – no Ninja Turtles!

We will keep a record of what the kids want to do as adults and send a complete posting of “future employment” home to you as a keepsake for your scrapbook.

On Thursday, we will go to the botanical gardens in Owensboro. I did not think we would get a place on their roster, but we did at the last minute. it doesn’t have much to do with “me” but it’s a great outing and it does involve another fall project – collecting bugs. More on that later. It’s a treat day, and we will order pizza for lunch. It will be a great day. It’s supposed to be 80 degrees!

So keep in mind that this week is all about “me” and quiz your child about what he or she wants to be when he or she grows up. It’s a delightful week. Enjoy.

It’s been an outstanding week. We’ve had visitors from all walks of life to talk to the kids about different jobs. It’s been exciting to see the kids really focus on what our visitors had to say. Most of the children were well behaved and listened very politely.

On Monday, we had a visit from the ambulance people who talked to us about saving lives. The children got to investigate the ambulance vehicle. It was very exciting for the kids to see a real ambulance up close.

Monday afternoon, Kamden’s dad came in to school to talk about farming. He’s a farmer and grows corn and other grains in four states. He talked about dairy farming as well. He talked about animals and how it all works.

Tuesday, Alex’s grandmother came in to school to show the kids how she decorates cakes. It was a really interesting to see a white plain cake turn into a pink rose covered treat. Then we ate the cake. The kids loved it.

On Wednesday, Dr. Rege our vet came into school to talk about doctoring animals. He was funny and worked on Miss Kelly’s dog who also visited the school. She has a miniature pincher named Jeeter. Everyone at school uses Dr. Van Houten and Dr. Rege. They are marvelous vets.

Wednesday afternoon we had a visit from Joe Dickenson, our police father who talked to the children about being a police officer. The kids loved Joe and he showed them his police car and ran the siren and lights which they loved.

On Thursday, we had a visit from Mr. Jeff who is a physical trainer. He talked to the kids about staying in shape and eating right. He loved our lunch of peanut crusted chicken, cheesy potatoes, caramelized carrots and pears.

Late Thursday morning, Mr. Phil came in and talked to us about nursing. He let the kids listen to their hearts. The kids were thrilled.

Today is our visit from the fire department. We are hoping to be able to use the hose and to see the fire guys dress in their SCBAs (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus).

These visits have been really wonderful and the kids have really enjoyed it. We thank all our parents and friends for doing this for the school.

Today we are trying out baked salmon and baked potatoes. Miss Judy will talk today about cooking for kids.

Women had to earn the right to vote. They did that with a lot of work and a lot of sorrow. If you’re thinking of not voting this year, think again – at least about the women who fought for your right to vote. Here are some pictures of those women who were beaten and clubbed and thrown into jail because they wanted a voice in America:

This story about our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers happened only 90 years ago.

It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote and by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of ‘obstructing sidewalk traffic.’

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the ‘Night of Terror’ on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail. Their food–all of it colorless slop–was infested with worms.

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn’t make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: ‘Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.’

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party – remember to vote.

History is being made.

Comment: This is an excellent article by a woman I truly respect. It’s a grass roots piece that really says, “If you want it, do it yourself.” With all the tax money that has been thrown on to education, and all the new tax money that’s being earmarked for throwing, I think we should pull back to a grass roots approach to find our successes. There are successful pockets everywhere, and nationalizing success is just a far flung idea. Anyway, read:

Teaching Secrets: Thriving in the Science Classroom

When I entered the world of science teaching, I soon realized that the official job description didn’t begin to cover the real work of my new profession. As daunting as this realization was, I also quickly came to see that it would be up to me to make genuine teaching and learning happen in my classroom, whatever it took.

As I worked through the inevitable trials and tribulations of a new teacher, I made notes of all the things I needed to know and the questions I found myself asking. With luck, new science teachers won’t face the same questions I faced. (I certainly hope they don’t.) But just in case, I’m sharing my first five questions here–with the answers I’m now able to give after a lengthy teaching career.

To set the context, let me say that most of my science teaching has taken place in the middle grades, and that I came to teaching from a “first career” as a research scientist specializing in virology. I’ve taught many kinds of students in a variety of school settings and served on several national panels related to science education. Now, the Q & A!

If I’m a science teacher, where’s my science equipment?

With newbie enthusiasm, the first thing I did after stepping foot into my assigned school was to a launch a search for science equipment. I finally located the cache, such as it was, in a hall closet behind stacks of discarded textbooks and an outdated ditto machine. The sagging shelves held a couple of broken microscopes, some chemicals that hadn’t been used for a decade, a few beakers crusted from lack of cleaning, and other rusty odds and ends. Two established science teachers had some working science equipment stored in their classrooms but were quick to let me know that the equipment was for their use only.

Your circumstances may not be the same, but here’s a tip: Expect that you may not have the equipment and supplies you need for your students to do scientific investigations and experiments. Plan to attack this problem head on. You may be new, but you’re smart, determined, and probably have a high energy level. Teacher leadership emerges from recognizing a problem and making a decision to tackle it, so step into a teacher-leader role from day one.

First, enlist the support of the administration and the help of fellow science teachers in addressing the lack of needed resources. Make it clear that you are not addressing this issue just for your students, but that this initiative targets upgrading the equipment for the whole science department. Then begin a career-long quest (yes, you read that correctly) in search of better science resources through grants, businesses, and other community sources.

Be creative. Medical professions (dentists, hospitals, and doctors’ offices) may furnish surgical gloves and other items for students to use during lab work. Police drug units tend to be a particularly good source of triple beam balances. University biology departments sometimes donate perfectly good working microscopes when they purchase new ones. Parents can generally be counted on to donate paper towels, vinegar, baking soda, and other grocery store supplies. (Note: Paper cups and kitchen scales are better than nothing, but do focus on introducing your students to the world of science exploration by using the actual tools of the trade–real science equipment.)

Did someone drop a bomb on my classroom-to-be?

My first classroom was in a circa-1940’s school facility and resembled a disaster area. Over a fourth of the floor was bare concrete, and peeling tile covered the remainder. Student tables were battered and covered with graffiti. The broken teacher’s desk had no chair and the walls badly needed paint. While carpentry and painting were not in my contract, I quickly got over that minor point and enlisted friends and family in cleaning, painting, and giving the room a welcoming appearance. My thinking about this was simple. I wanted to begin my new career on a good note, and my classroom would say a lot to students about how much I cared about teaching and about them.

If your room needs a facelift and the system can’t take care of it, just do it yourself. (The “do-it-yourself” philosophy will serve you well as a teacher — trust me on this!) Besides, it’s easier to keep graffiti and student-caused damage under control when your room and student tables are clean to start with.

Why are my students looking at me like that?

I’m such a science enthusiast that it took me by surprise when some of my students arrived with a serious case of “science apathy,” or even an active dislike of science. When I told them what remarkable learning experiences we would have during the year, many of their expressions said, “Yeah, right.” Obviously, these kids needed some tender loving SIC — Science Instructional Care.

Should you look out at faces filled with disinterest, consider that their previous science experiences might have been dominated by textbook-driven teaching and paper-and-pencil assignments. Fortunately, you have an opportunity to correct that. You might start SIC treatment on the first day with an eye-popping discrepant event–-something that puzzles students and invites inquiry. You can find some great ideas by typing “science discrepant events” into an Internet search engine. Continue SIC treatment early on by engaging students in actively investigating, experimenting, and working together to learn science principles and issues. Your enthusiasm about science and its relevance to what your students do during the year can cure many of them of their apathy and build interest in learning. Remember: Inquiry, inquiry, inquiry!

What on earth is going on in those small groups?

Before completing the first three weeks of teaching I made an important discovery. I could plan wonderful lessons to involve students in active learning and experimentation. And like any good teacher, I planned for my students to work together in groups to learn, explore, and solve problems. Planning, however, did not make it happen. Frankly, my students were not good at working together in teams. That set off alarm bells for me–especially since teamwork is one of the most important lifelong skills students will need. So I started on a career-long quest to help my students learn how to work together productively.

I’m going to get preachy now. Please make building community and teamwork in your classroom a top priority. Understand that helping your students learn to work together and accomplish something will definitely be an uphill challenge. You will deal with frequent frustration (yours and theirs) as you help them develop this skill. I have a couple of “how to” ideas that might assist you. Feel free to correspond with me at ajolly@bellsouth.net. When you discover team-building techniques that work, I’d like to hear your tips as well.

Who are those other adults in my building?

When I started teaching one of the most surprising discoveries was that I was basically isolated from other teachers. That was a real jaw-dropper. In my former profession, I met with colleagues on a daily basis to analyze and discuss our work with (are you ready for this?) laboratory rats. I had the distinct belief that students were at least as important as lab rats, so naturally I was perplexed by the lack of communication and collaboration among the adults with daily responsibility for their progress.

Later in my career I began addressing this problem, but I wish I’d begun a lot sooner. So this tip is more like a plea: Start now and take a leadership role in establishing learning connections with your colleagues. Hopefully you have (authentic) professional learning communities in your schools where you can work with other teachers to learn, grow, and improve your instruction. If you don’t, I have some tips along those lines, too! Keep in mind that collaboration is a culture change for teachers who have “grown up” in a tradition of stoic individualism and some degree of competitiveness. As a new teacher you don’t have these hang-ups yet, so become an advocate for regularly working together, building knowledge and sharing ideas, and feeling a collective sense of responsibility for all students.

And don’t limit your collaborative thinking to your own school building. Ongoing connections to science teacher colleagues in other schools and locations provide you with fresh ideas, trouble-shooting tips, and collegial support to refuel your enthusiasm when you feel discouraged. Form local and district connections with as many science teachers as you can. You can find virtual groups and support through a number of science organizations. Join the National Science Teachers Association (accessexcellence.org) and the NSF-sponsored Middle School Science & Math Portal (msteacher.org). Sites like these provide information and resources targeting first year science teachers, exciting lessons, and access to others who share your enthusiasm.

These aren’t questions, but let me add three more quick tips:

— Give your students the freedom to design their own science investigations, make mistakes, and try again. Canned labs are okay for teaching students to follow directions and demonstrating some principles. But don’t overdo the pre-fab stuff. Science is all about genuine inquiry.

— Actively find opportunities to involve parents. Parents are not your enemy. You’ll need extra hands and eyes when doing labs. You’ll also need parents in helping you find funding sources for science equipment. And parents with science-related backgrounds or careers can help students make the linkage between the K-12 classroom and the future.

— Finally, plan for a long and fulfilling career teaching real science to many hundreds of naturally curious students. Remember, you’re doing something every day that matters–not just to those students who will choose to pursue science careers, but to every kid who comes to see the important and exciting place science holds in our 21st century world.

Comment:

Here’s another great game from Out of the Box! I love these games!

BACKSEAT DRAWING Draws Everyone Together!

Dodgeville, Wisconsin – BACKSEAT DRAWING is the new high-energy party game from Out of the Box Publishing where players draw pictures.without knowing what they are drawing!
In BACKSEAT DRAWING, two teams race to identify drawings done by their own team members. But the artists don’t know what they are drawing-they can only follow the instructions given by another team member. Laughter erupts as players attempt to follow direction and to guess what is being drawn.

For example: Direct a teammate to draw a square. Then have them draw a triangle on top of the square. (It’s the start of a house).

Get the picture? If so, you win!

BACKSEAT DRAWING is for 4 to 10 players, ages 12 to adult. BACKSEAT DRAWING is available at all Target stores and specialty retailers nationwide – at a suggested retail of $24.99.

About Out of the Box Publishing
Since 1999, Out of the Box Publishing has been a leader in the Business of Fun! Headquartered in Dodgeville, WI, Out of the Box produces a gamut of games. From single-player to party games, from quick and light games to engaging strategy games, Out of the Box games are designed to please the entire family. Fun has always been our mission, and happiness can be found.right Out of the Box!

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