Gingerbread Baby Goes Around the World!

I love this idea!  Susan, from River Bliss, has the Gingerbread Baby go around the world.  Susan explains, "Throughout the month of December, we receive a letter, postcard, or email nearly every day from the gingerbread baby telling us about various multicultural celebrations taking place at this time of year. He is directionally impaired to say the least and even ends up in Antarctica at one point! He is a curious cookie who just loves a party!"

For more on this unit, hop on over to Susan's blog:  http://riverblissed.blogspot.com/2012/11/holidays-around-world_30.html


Click this link for Susan's super Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/susantara/holidays-around-the-world/

Click this link for Sally's Gingerbread Man Pinterest Board: http://pinterest.com/sallyhaughey/gingerbread-man-unit-ideas/

Thank you Susan!  

Soulful Sunday

The Call of Teaching

I will never forget the moment I was called to teaching.  

I was pregnant with my third child and decided to give my hand at volunteering in my son's kindergarten class.  The first time I walked into the classroom a rush of knowing filled every pore.  

I was home.

Like many before me who have had a deep calling - I did not listen to my soul's yearning.  I thought, "Oh, not now. What on earth do I have to offer?"

It would be 8 more years before the call would knock again.   I am still amazed how something so simple can become so profound.

It was an innocent visit to see an alternative form of education. 

My dear friend Sue and I had traveled to Boulder, Colorado to see Shining Mountain Waldorf School.   We were given a tour.

The tour guide took us into a third grade classroom.

Goosebumps ran up and down my arms.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw these students in action.

My heart swelled.   There was this vibrant life and energy in the room.  These third graders were on the edge of their seats engaged in learning.   The power of the education in that classroom was like a sculptor of clay.  It was forming the very soul of these children.  It was stunning.   Never before had a classroom moved me with such a force of deep respect.

Honestly,  I walked away from Shining Mountain in deep sadness about the quality of education in public schools.

Every child deserves this.  My child deserves this. 

My teaching heart knew - Education is more than facts, more than reading, more than test scores.

Witnessing that third grade classroom I knew there was a deeper truth of education (whether we admit or not.) 

Education is the cultivation and weeding of the human soul.

It is soil in which we grow our young.

A test driven education is like a weed-choked garden.

It suffocates.

 

I believe teaching is a deep call of the soul.

It is a path of deep and profound privilege.

It is time to weed the garden.

A Thanksgiving Gift

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so grateful for the hearts of teachers.

Here is a little token of thanks. . .

Click here to download.

52 Sayings of Inspiration for Teachers:

Leaf Lanterns Tutorial

 Susan at River Bliss blog created these amazing lanterns!   She has provided a detailed tutorial at:

 http://riverblissed.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-quest-of-light-leaf-lantern-tutorials.html

I love Susan's blog for her wonderful reflections and musings inspired by the Upper Hudson River where she lives.  It is worth putting on your blog reading list.

I am going to make some lanterns for my porch for our Thanksgiving day gathering.  

Thank you Susan for sharing your bliss!

Thankful Turkeys

This is a simple project. All you need are four simple items:

• brown construction paper
• colored copy paper
• clothes pins
• download of the hand and leaves: CLICK HERE

1.  Cut out brown thankful hand.
2. Write four things you are thankful for - one on each leaf!
3. Cut out the leaves and glue one to each finger.
4. Cut out a beak and gobbler!  Glue on.
5. Draw an eye.
6. Pinch two clothespin on the bottom of the hand for the legs.

Click here to download

Soulful Sunday

Yesterday I was reading a book (Linchpin) by Seth Godin and had this ah ha moment.  It is a book about business and as I read - I realized I was reading about the state of education.  I just had to share it.  Listen to this (I will be replacing the word "business" with the word "education or teacher":

You want a cookie-cutter (education) that you can scale fast, without regard for finding, nurturing and retaining talent - it is the Rule of Ordinary People.  Here's the problem, which you've already guessed.  If you make your (education) possible to replicate, you are not going to be the one to replicate it.  Others will.  If you build an (education) filled with rules and procedures that are designed to allow you to hire cheap (teachers), you will have to produce an (education) without humanity or personalization or connection.  Which means that you will have to lower your quality.  Which leads to the race to the bottom.

Indispensable (teachers) are the race to the top.

Godin's point is that the whole focus in business has been to produce products as cheaply as possible.  In order to do that - you have to make employees easily replaceable.  You have all watched the fall out as thousands of jobs were outsourced to the lowest priced labor in the world.  The good news is that Godin is saying this model of business is dead.  There is a new way - the way of indispensable talent.

I assert that this old business model of the easily replaceable labor is what education is currently experiencing in its financial crisis.   Larger classrooms, fewer rights, no raises . . . . more accountability.

But I just love Godin's point of view.  It applies to education.  The race to the top can only be realized in the indispensable talent of teachers.

So my message to you today is simple.

You are indispensable.  

You are the source of all that works in our educational systems.

Thank you for teaching in this high pressure, high stakes environment.  Thank you for bringing your heart and soul in the face of unreasonable pressure.   You matter.   If we strip away all the assessments, the data, the evaluations - the truth rests quietly waiting for acknowledgement.   Education is a journey of the heart.  An exceptional education is born from passionate, inspired educators who commit themselves to the task of learning with their students.

You have a gift to give.

A deep stirring to make a difference.

You were born for this work.

We cannot allow the machine of education to deny us our task.

A Reggio Inspired Classroom

I recently had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful Reggio inspired teacher, Mrs. Foshee.  Her room was fab!  Here is a sneak peek:

 Here is her number line.  Love, love it!

 The number is constructed out of tacks and yarn.

 Love the nature items.

 The letters were created from twine.

 Isn't this a grand calendar?!  Love it.

 Painted leaves displayed in wooden frames.

 These would be easy to pick up at thrift stores and garage sales.

 A wonderful tray of nature finds.

Good stuff!

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

 “Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight
nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the
best readers by the time they’re eight.”

 [Fox, M. (2001). Reading Magic. San Diego, CA: Harcourt.]

It is a great time to pick up a clearance pumpkin container to use for reenacting the nursery rhyme "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater."

There are three steps I use with nursery rhymes in my classroom:

1.   We recite it and act it out.  There are two methods that can be used to reenact a nursery rhyme.  I use the one that is appropriate for the rhyme.

•  Retell using dollhouse materials.
•  Act it out
•  Use puppets

2.   We recite the nursery rhyme and clap to the beat.

• Clap the pattern.
• Drum the pattern (I have enough drums for my class)
• Clap with a partner the pattern.

3.  I repeat the nursery rhyme daily for two weeks.

BENEFITS:

VAK:

• Visual Learners - using props to learn a nursery rhyme helps the visual learner
• Auditory Learners - reciting the nursery rhyme repeatedly helps the auditory learner
• Kinesthetic Learners - reenacting the nursery rhyme with props helps the hands-on learner

Whole Child Benefits:

• Physical:  It helps children use their mouth and tongue muscles in producing different patterns and rhythm of sound.  It helps to develop a sense of movement and coordination if clapping or drumming are added to the reciting.
• Social:  It provides a shared experience as the class unites in reciting the rhyme.  When clapping out the rhyme with a partner it provides another powerful shared experience.
• Cognitive: Reciting nursery rhymes help children hear the sounds and syllables of our language. It strengthens the articulation of words and the ability to enunicate clearly. 

Bag People

It is always fun to use a new medium for an art project.  This project uses a brown paper bag for the painting.  This project could be used to paint large self-portraits or character portraits such as those in fairy tales.  Also cool idea for making a gift bag for a parent gift.  Lots of possibilities!

MATERIALS:
--brown bags
--black crayons
--watercolors or tempera cakes

Step One: Draw a large U on the top half of the bag.

Draw two curved lines for the eyebrows.

Step Two: Draw an L for the nose.  

Draw a stretched out m for the top lip.

Draw a stretched out u for the bottom lip.

Step Three:  Draw an oval for each eye.

Draw a circle for the pupil of the eyes.

Add curved lines for the hair.

Step Four:  Draw long slightly curved lines for the neck.

Draw another large u for the shirt neckline.

Step Five:  Make M's for the lace around the necklace.

Draw the ears with a c shape.

Using curved lines make shoulders.

Step Six:  Watercolor or tempera paint!!!