Ms. Nancy Online

Thirty-three spellers, parents, grandparents, aunts and friends packed into the library to watch the First Annual JCS Spelling Bee! I thought it was a great success and appreciated the wealth of support from all of Orange County–even the South County people we don’t see up here too often. While spelling ability isn’t the most important skill in the world, it certainly adds to a student’s facility with language and makes writing much easier.

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.

Class activities were as follows:

• opening activity–writers observe carefully; students reveal by silent walking across the stage whether they are a prince or a pauper
• follow-up on alphabet book–sharing of the product; finish books by the end of February and save for display at Project Fair in May
• reading/writing journal: date every entry. Record thoughts before they slip away! This is your idea book and your way to reflect about what you observe or think about.
• Reading: both groups should finish books by February 14. If you need more time, talk to me so I can renew books.
• Using the format of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, students will construct their own books, practicing cause and effect reasoning, sequencing, complications and obstacles, circular story
• For want of a nail, the shoe was lost, For want of a shoe, the horse was lost, For want of a horse, the rider was lost, For want of a rider, the message was lost, For want of a message, the battle was lost, For want of the battle, the war was lost, For want of the war, the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of a horse shoe nail.

Homework: Read, read, read! Write in journal as often as possible. Finish alphabet books. Write a circular story and illustrate it (optional). Write out your favorite poem and bring it to class next week. Be ready to read your poem.

The date for the bee is February 23rd at 10:00! It will be in the library and all students are welcome to try. We will start with the K students and work our way up through the grades. If you want to enter, sign up at the table outside the learning center or call Nancy.

I’m sorry this class report is late; it’s been a busy week. Here is what we did:

• speaking exercise–focus on inflection at the end of the sentence to indicate punctuation; your voice goes up if it is a question and drops if it is a statement
• sharing of alphabet books–students are in various states of completion; the hope is that they would be completed by the end of the month
• mini lesson on simile and metaphor; students should recognize the difference
• “Because of Winn-Dixie” group was read the first four chapters and given a writing assignment to create a list about someone in their family like the one in chapter 4. In addition, read the next two chapters at home.
• “Out of the Dust” was discussed with the students–a few students have already completed the book; make sure your student has an opportunity to see the mini video on the dust bowl (connect to last week’s log); writing assignment is to imagine that you are the main character writing a journal entry 10 years after the end of the book. What is happening?
• I will collect writings on Thursday.

What an incredible movie! At the urging of many, Bob and I went to see this great film last night. We were both touched by the power of one teacher to make a difference in kids’ lives. In these days where the nightly news is a litany of abuse against children, it was wonderful to see the light in a dark room. There are places where the violence is just too much for younger kids, so I’d preview it before you take any of your children, but I would certainly recommend it for high schoolers. It’s a powerful statement. I’m so thankful that you are being the power of one in your child’s life!

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.

Thanks to the parent teachers, we had a great class with plenty of help for the little people. I will attempt to publish a weekly update so you know what we did in class. Here was the day:

• rhythm sticks–syllable review
• student introductions–focus on voice projection and eye contact
• read a wide variety of alphabet books, noticing unifying themes
• brainstorm themes students could use for their own alphabet book–trains, bugs, England, fun things to do in California, plants, the Renaissance, oceanography, anything you are already studying and want to review
• start writing and be ready to share next week; it is not expected that the whole book would be written in one week, but it should be finished by the time of the project fair; students are allowed to co-author a book if they agree on a theme; younger students can use the template, but they don’t have to; any size or shape book can be made. http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson982/template.pdf
• pass out books: “Because of Winn-Dixie” for younger kids and “Out of the Dust” for older students; parent alert: both books are easy reading but deal with difficult issues–death, desertion, alcoholism, poverty; no assignment was given in class, but we will start discussing them next week; students who read the first three chapters will be more than ready for class. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4411769998751922010&q=Dust+Bowl

Since we are all dealing with the difficulty of getting back into the groove of school after a long vacation, the spelling bee will be delayed as we get back into the studying mode. Perhaps it can be held near the end of the month. It will also give me a chance to make sure more of the Orange County families know about it. There will be mini-contests for every ability level, so encourage your student to participate for the fun of it as well as the public speaking opportunity.
http://www.eyedocgreg.com/homeschool/spelling_bee.htm

It seems the last few weeks have been at a frantic pace! I’m happy for all of us that we have made it to our two week break. I know for many of you it will be a true vacation and you are traveling here and there. For others of you, it will be your time to catch up. Whatever you do, have a wonderful break from the ordinary. I trust you will be able to spend time with your family and have a blessed holiday.

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.

A number of students have established blogs that will be connected soon to this site. We’re just working on the glitches of connecting them. So if you don’t have as much response to your blog as I promised, hang in there. It is coming. That’s all I will write for now. I’m looking at a busy few weeks with the Christmas break coming up. I know you are too. I will be handing out test prep packets for students in 2nd grade and above. The hope is that by getting them this early, when testing comes it will be a breeze for the kids. My focus will be on creating some writing workshops for students that are blogging on this site. As soon as the library gets back to me on a location and I work out the details, I’ll let you know. I anticipate having small groups of kids on alternate weeks at the 9:00 time slot. On weeks when they don’t meet with me, they would still have a writing assignment that they turn in. They will also be reading a book together which you will have to purchase as I have no budget for this project. Look for more information soon.

Before I left Alaska, two of my students entered the Earth and Sky Young Producer’s competition, which was an international contest where kids could produce a 90 second radio broadcast about anything involving science. While the contest no longer exists (sad…because these two students won $1000), all the performances are archived. This is a great example of a podcast, which is essentially a radio broadcast that is available over the internet. Wouldn’t that be an interesting project for your child? It involves not only writing development but speaking skills. I know our students in the Brea science group are learning amazing facts about the ocean and giving speeches about what they are discovering. Maybe we can get some of these speeches tied together in a readers theater production to put online. Wouldn’t the grandparents in Florida or North Dakota love to hear their grandkids online?  salmon.mp3

More examples of winning performances (as well as lots of great science information) is available at www.earthsky.org. Just type in a subject in the search box. If any of you have a performer ready, give me a call and we will get it rolling. It’s amazing how much information can be conveyed in 90 seconds, and it gives kids a great sense of an introduction, body and conclusion.