Ms. Nancy Online

This morning I checked out again the web site run by one of the mothers in the K co-op created by a visionary group of kindergarten homeschooling moms. If you haven’t seen it yet, visit soon! (www.nowkids.blogspot.com) The group meets once a week for social studies and is studying “Nations of the World.” The moms take turns presenting a country to the kids, including the flag, native plants and animals, a craft and any other interesting, identifying information associated with that place. Each child creates pages in their large scrapbook that describes the country and helps them remember. In traveling from home to home it is apparent the kids are retaining what they are learning with the prompt of their scrapbook. They are excited about what they are learning! One parent that presented the United States gave each child a great alphabet picture book about the states and a packet on one state containing material from state tourism bureaus. So not only are these kindergarteners getting a sense of the countries of the world, but all their different packets on the states illustrated the wide diversity of land forms, plants and animals across the United States. Another parent teacher brought money from the country so each child could mount it in their scrapbooks.

Speaking of this co-op, I am happy to report that three are active in my little world. I love the idea of parents taking charge of their children’s education and a co-op gives you the opportunity for complete ownership of the curriculum. You also get the advantage of many teachers. “Many hands make light work” and it is great to have your work load shared. The creativity of a group of minds always notches a classroom up; team teaching with like-minded instructors always works. It is also beneficial for your kids to have other eyes on them. Different eyes notice different gifts. Anyway, I salute you! You are doing a great job and bringing another dimension to homeschooling.

Cerritos Performing Arts Center has presented another wonderful schedule of events that I previewed a few weeks ago. Out of the 25 performances available, I have requested that we be included in the following:

• 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.

Since many of you are starting out with astronomy studies this year, I thought I would mention star parties. When I taught in Alaska, star parties were a popular part of the astronomy curriculum. Since in the winter it was dusky by 3:00 and pitch black by 4:30, you didn’t have to stay up late to have a star party. We also lived where there were fewer artificial lights to compete with the heavenly lights. The downside was the cold. We’d stage the star party near a warm house holding popcorn and steaming hot chocolate inside, so you could look for a while and then run inside and get warm.

All of that aside, there is a star party happening tonight at UCI, and you could have one in your backyard if you want to get up at midnight. Tonight there is going to be a total lunar eclipse. There is no better way to talk about an event like this than when it is happening and the kids get to see it. Worried about school tomorrow? If you do school at midnight, they can sleep in tomorrow! You can read all about it here: http://www.ocregister.com/news/moon-says-earth-1822563-color-comes. Also featured in this article is the meteor shower coming on Saturday. If your student does experience either one of these events, make sure you have him write about it the next day! And if all of this just sounds too “out there” for you, schedule a time to visit the Griffith Observatory this year. It has just reopened after a massive refurbishment program.

Another fun resource online is the NASA site: http://www.nasa.gov/. Look at both the “for kids” and “for teachers” pages for ideas for your astronomy study. I’ve also told many of my families about the book “Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System.” Near the beginning of the book, the author, Alvin Jenkins, plots out a scaled solar system for you if the sun was the size of a basketball. “At this scale, the solar system is almost a mile and a half across, and all of its planets could be held in the palm of your hand.” One year the Brea co-op did a walk where parents had mapped out the relative distances of the planets from the sun. Those kids had a graphic picture in their heads that came from the ground up.

So…don’t call me early in the morning. I’ll be star partying tonight!

The Expo should be great, considering the amount of time many people have invested in it. If your are hungry for new ideas and want to meet other parent educators, this is the place to be! See you there!

Share narrative writings and discuss. If students haven’t completed this writing, they should do so immediately. See last week’s entry for specific instructions.

Persona poem:

• Think about the masks you made in Ms. Carla’s class
• Writing a persona poem is like wearing a mask; you become some other person or thing and write about what that is like

Oral reading of Timber Snake by Marilyn Singer: notice the word choices and the sounds that are created by these words.  (Handout)

Some ideas to help you start: imagine being the thing or animal. What is life like for you? What are some of the things you like or dislike? Do you make any sounds? Do you have any exchange with other animals? What is it like to be an elderly person or a baby? What about a character from a nursery rhyme or fairy tale? Have you thought what it would be like to be Peter Piper or Cinderella’s ugly step-sister? Think about what it would be like to have an unusual profession (worm farmer, window washer of skyscraper, game show host).

Everybody worked hard in class today and we did the following:

• Discussion about the writing journals–date everything, demonstrate the difference between relating a series of events and thinking/reflecting about what happens during your day
• Ideas in your journal are the seeds of future writing projects
• Emergent writers can get help from their “secretaries” if necessary
• Write as often as possible; writers practice writing

Sharing of progress on wish poem project. The recordings are happening now and the kids are enjoying hearing their own words. I collected illustrations for wish poems if they were finished. Have your artist fill up the paper. Down with white space!

Discussion of timeline project. Where is your own story in it? Students should pick out an event that is important and create a story around that event. The best stories will have an attention grabbing introduction, a clear middle, and a conclusion that includes a lesson learned or a statement about why the telling was important. Emergent writers can draw their story and have parents take dictation to accompany illustrations. The best stories will reveal something of the heart of the writer.

Writing class was productive and we did the following:

• Quick writes–play sounds and have student write about what they hear. What color is the sound you hear? What memory does the sound suggest?
• Sharing of what has been written–alphabet books, wish poems
• Homework: re-visit your poems this week and see if you can improve them by adding more descriptive words or taking out unnecessary words. Illustrate your poem on a separate piece of paper.

New project: read poem by William Carlos Williams This Is Just To Say

• Notice how he uses ordinary language to describe ordinary event
• Short lines about just one event
• Theme: apologizing for something you’re really secretly glad you did
• Students try the technique with an event in their own life

The Locust Tree in Flower

• one word lines
• disjointed
• words look like brushstrokes in a painting–each word adds something to what you see, but it’s not until the end that you know what the whole picture is
• do this as a class collaboration
• Homework: try it on your own!

Preparation for project for next week: make a timeline of your life, highlighting important events you remember (or your parents can help you remember)

In the weeks ahead, I will be recording your student reading favorite poems that were brought into class a few weeks ago. Recordings will be at student meetings or special arrangements will be made for students not meeting with me in the next few weeks.

The conference I attended in Palm Springs excited me to get your kids writing even more than they already do. The sponsoring group is California’s “Computer Using Educators,” so of course, the orientation is not only making students computer literate, but finding ways to make learning more effective by using computers. There are two areas in particular where I want to start moving: podcasting and digitales. I think both will enhance our homeschooling world and give the kids more opportunity for genuine writing.

Podcasting is just a broadcasting medium that uses the computer as the vehicle. Wouldn’t it be great if all the kids in all the homes could benefit from what your 3rd grader learned about whales or germs or Indians? Or what about the benefit of having a recording of the first book your child read? If nothing else, the grandparents in Michigan or Florida would love it.

Another medium I learned about is digitales, a way for kids to tell the story of their own lives using a multimedia format. Everybody has a story to tell and there is meaning in all that happens to us. Writers think and talk about that meaning. I think your students know they have a voice that must come through their writing. This is another way to express that voice.

So as soon as I get all my paperwork finished, I’m diving into the tools to make this happen. The conference made me wish I was younger and not so obviously a “digital immigrant.” The “natives”–my children and yours–that have grown up in a digital world get the technology end so much more intuitively. I have to work at it.

All that aside, I hope the kids are writing in their journals. There is a place for paper, pencil and a regular time to reflect in writing even in the digital age! And remember, the best writers are readers. Do you have a DEAR (drop everything and read) time carved out for your child (and you) during the day?

Class activities:

• Observe the “pirate lady” and discuss how writers use all their senses to make text come alive. Do a quick write of your observations.
• Poems–continue oral presentations
• Poems–read poetry written this week. (Students were reluctant to share and class was squished into a little room because of rain. We will be reading next week.)
• Explain acrostic poem and model examples.
• Brainstorm about yourself.  Write an acrostic about yourself, using either single words or complete thoughts.
• Sound concepts mentioned: alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia

Homework: keep working on any unfinished projects, write in journals as much as possible, and write acrostic and be ready to read it next week.

Class went as follows:

• Opening activity: quick write describing person that walked through class quickly
• Share progress on alphabet books
• Poetry–what is it? Share examples. Focus on enunciation, projection, eye contact and expression.
• Read Blake poetry–The Tyger, The Lamb, The Sick Rose and discuss. Poet is looking at something and asking how it got that way.
• Writing: write a poem in which you are talking to a beautiful and mysterious creature or creation and you can ask anything you want because you speak its language. The creature can answer you if you want it to. If you have lots of questions, you can ask a question in every line of different creatures. It does not have to rhyme.