This has been a busy summer for me. I attended the NECC 2008 conference in San Antonio where I was inundated with information and products. I’m still getting floods of calls/emails from vendors that want to sell me something. In spite of all that, it was instructive to see what other educators were doing all over the country. They say 18,000 were there. I believe it! Some sessions were too crowded to get in, but the great thing about this conference is that they archive a lot of the sessions online. So I will continue to learn/attend throughout the year.

NECC 2008 in San Antonio

Then a few weeks after returning from NECC, I attended the Discovery Education National Institute in Silver Springs, MD, just over the river from the capitol. That was an incredible experience. The Discovery people prepared an action-packed week of activities and sessions. I learned so much and am still processing the tips and tricks and figuring out ways to implement the training this year with our students. One thing I am sure of: we have not used Discovery Streaming to its capacity and I want to take advantage of that valuable resource this year. In the coming weeks, I will be passing on as much as I can for you to implement with your children.

Rube Goldberg machine in Discovery lobby

Dinosaur in Discovery lobby

Aren’t you happy you are doing so much more than planting rice? Yesterday I talked to a mother who is weary. Her child has definite handicaps emotionally which influence his ability to learn…at least in the traditional way. For years now she has worked with him daily, following his interests, giving him materials above or below grade level, and constantly reviewing, reviewing, reviewing. She wants to see more fruit from her labor. And yet, as we talked, all I could see was the remarkable salvation of this kid! In a traditional school in a special ed classroom there is no way he could have had this personalized, custom-fit education, tailored to his needs and interests. There is no greater sacrifice than this, that a parent would invest time, salary and emotional energy into a child’s future. You are all doing such a fine job and I trust you will be given the strength to finish the race!

The story…It is Christmas Eve. Maria and her brother Fritz are anticipating with excitement and impatience the celebration that will take place in their beautiful home in Frankfurt. They are wondering if all their guests will come despite the snow storm. Maria is especially concerned about their godfather, Papa Drosselmeyer. The godfather arrives late and brings with him extraordinary presents among which is an unusual nutcracker that turns out to be a young, handsome prince. Thanks to Nutcracker, Maria is freed of undesirable guests, the mice, and travels to a world of magic and enchantment with her prince. They are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy, and entertained by acrobats and dancers from all over the world! Was it just a dream? What do you think?

The story of the story…The history of the Nutcracker tale is as rich as the story itself. Nearly two centuries ago, in 1815, the German writer E.T.A. Hoffman published a story called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, telling how a little girl’s love brought to life her cherished Nutcracker, an enchanted Christmas gift from her mysterious godfather. In 1847, the French writer Alexandre Dumas published a retelling of Hoffman’s story. From this adaption, the Russian composers Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and choreographer Lev Ivanov created their ballet, The Nutcracker, which was first performed in St. Petersburg in 1892. Why has The Nutcracker remained so popular throughout the world? As the story explains, “if you love something very much, it is always alive.”

Writing application: Do you have a toy or an object that you love so much you wish it would come to life? If so, describe how you imagine that experience. What conversations would you have with that come-alive object? What in your world would surprise your come-alive object? What would you do on your first day together? (Many of my students (particularly boys) have loved The Indian in the Cupboard books which follow this pattern. ) Non-writers can draw a picture of the object and dictate a story.

• Hap Palmer Live! (10/22/07) (Grades Pre-K-3)
• San Jose Taiko (11/6/07) (Grades K-12)
• The Nutcracker (11/27/07) (Grades 1-7)
• Figaro’s American Adventure (1/29/08) (Grades 3-6)
• Aesop’s Fables II (2/5/08) (Grades K-4)
• Letters to Harriet Tubman (2/13/08) (Grades 4-8)
• Little Red Riding Hood and Other Stories (2/19/08) (Grades 1-4)
• The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (2/20/08) (Grades 3-7)
• The Disneyland Band (3/3/07) (Grade 2)
• Ling Jin Chinese Dance (3/4/08) (Grades K-8)
• The Velveteen Rabbit (4/8/08) (Grades 1-4)

While the grades listed have been suggested by Cerritos, we have found over the years that performances can be seen by a wider age range, depending on your particular child. While I have submitted an application for all these performances, we will probably not be able to get all of them as they use a lottery system. However, if we have a representative at the professional development workshop we are able to take the place of educators that don’t show up…and that frequently happens! While the timing of these workshops is inconvenient for all of you because you will have to get a babysitter, they would be very helpful to you as parent educators. And they serve yummy cookies and tea/coffee! Let me know if you are interested in attending a particular workshop. I will attend as many as I can, but I will definitely need some help if we are going to go to all of these! I will send emails to people on my roster when we are confirmed for performances.

In addition, the students were able to practice their speaking skills in front of a crowd. For some, this is no big deal, either because they have a natural inclination to be at ease in front of people, or more likely, because they have had practice in front of a group. Of course, my orientation is that speaking ability is one of the most important gifts we can give our kids. It is a vital life skill that is valuable in virtually all jobs.

Finally, the kids really practiced being gracious winners and losers. I was so proud of all of them and the fine job you are doing! Not one child had a breakdown when they missed a word. Character development was evident as each quietly dealt with defeat and didn’t fall apart. This, more than any other skill set, will get them through life. Somewhere they have learned that how they perform is not the measure of who they are. Thank you for the good job you are doing!

Grade level winners were:

• K  Sierra
• 1st Jordyn
• 2nd Haley
• 3rd Amittai
• 4th Emily
• 5th Brooklyn
• 6th Brooklynn J.

It struck me again how in a little slice of the planet we live side by side with people who occupy a different world in terms of their experiences and perceptions. Earlier in the day I heard a fascinating speaker talk about his recent trip to India and was exposed to a very disturbing web site: globalrichlist.com. I think you will find it interesting to see how fortunate you are when compared to the rest of the world. In this entitled culture we occupy in Orange County, it is good to keep some perspective.

The only thing I hated about the movie was the teacher’s marriage ended in divorce. My husband is so a part of everything I do that I can’t imagine the scenario of my involvement with teaching being a cause of conflict. I also wondered how such a sensitive teacher could ignore the growing rift, but that’s another story, I suppose.

Notice there are several new blogs up and running and they need comments! If you have a student writer in your family, it is a good exercise to have them make positive comments to other writers. I think you just use your normal method of signing in in order to make comments.

The next event coming up will be the spelling bee on January 4th. If you haven’t seen Akeelah and the Bee with your child yet, I highly recommend it. I had planned to have us watch it together, but it looks like we have run out of time. Watching it will give them a picture of the event and how it is run. We will use the traditional method: the student repeats the word, asks any questions about the word, spells the word and then speaks the word again. I will send a blurb about the rules in an email next week. I am looking for prizes at the moment, so if you have something that would work for a particular age group, let me know. We will have multiple age groups, so all readers can participate. In addition to the focus on spelling, this activity is essentially a speech activity and many kids will feel the pressure of performance in front of a group. Don’t let that fear prevent your child from participating! This is the first of many public speaking opportunities, but it gets easier with practice. Look for more information soon.

Three members of our little community are again performing in The Glory of Christmas at the Crystal Cathedral. I believe we have an armored soldier and a woman selling spices accompanied by her child. Somehow they are managing to do performances at night and on the weekends and do homeschool!