Raising Hope for Haiti

Children want to help. They care when they know what is happening in the world around them and outside of themselves. Sometimes children need to be directed outside of their tightly woven world that is saturated in media: games, gameboys, PS, Wii, online games, online blogs :-), chat rooms, etc.
Opening a world of current events, global communities, geography and maps is very important in the land of nurturing a child to become a caring and kind human being. With all of that said, the group of students at present were mildly aware of the earthquake that took place in Haiti recently. Discussions led to clarity and an assignment to find out what relief efforts are taking place.
Students returned the following day with alarming facts. They were very surprised that the affects of the earthquake weren't wrapped up in 30 minutes or less. They became very aware that Port-au-Prince would be lucky to be rebuilt in 5 years. The students began creating a sign that simply stated "Raising Hope for Haiti".
First step was color mixing for the vivid colors using only yellow, blue and magenta acrylic paints.
Sheets of 12x20 card stock were used and patterns and textures of racey reds, vibrant oranges, lovely yellows, gratifying greens, bold and beautiful blues and every color or purple/violet/lavender/indigo were swirled and wiggled and jiggled onto the cardstock.
The sheets were allowed to dry and then the cutting fun began. Butterfly shapes were cut out of the brightly painted papers. Miniature butterflies were cut from the scraps. The large butterflies were laminated and mini butterflies were used to decorate the 11 inch letters that spelled out R-A-I-S-I-N-G ** H-O-P-E ** F-O-R ** H-A-I-T-I* Once the lettering was complete, they too were laminated.
The final stage was to mount the message on the fence line outside of the school. This ended up being a 217 foot message!! The butterflies were hung to look like they are fluttering all around the Hope for Haiti message.
Closure for the day long project was very illuminating. The children were able to articulate what their "personal hope for Haiti" was and they also generate ideas to help Haiti. These little people have huge compassionate hearts...let them lead the way!

Sharon Creech Books

Anything written by Sharon Creech makes a wonderful, terrific, I-can't-put-it-down, don't-stop-now kind of reading!
Ruby Holler is an especially precious story about two orphans who live out their days in drudgery at the Boxton Creek Home for Kids until Tiller and Sairy magically appear for them.
Love That Dog and Hate That Cat are precious stories written in a journal kind of prose that leaves the reader, reading the child's journal! In between the journal entries, the reader also learns a little more about some wonderful Poets!
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup is a magical book that crosses the generation gap and every Grandma in the world will want to share this story with a grandchild.
The list goes on and on as Sharon Creech uses kid friendly language and wisdom from a parent/grandparent point of view to weave a story so rich in language and metaphor, family and friendships, and little bits of miracles that really do appear in everyday life.
Enjoy reading these books aloud with your kids!

Measurement

Measurement and a ruler are much more than the age old trick of creating a pencil helicopter! Teaching how to use a ruler and then offering objects to measure are instrumental (some pun intended!!) to the conceptual understanding of measurement. There are 16 tiny little marks in between the inches marks. Pointing this out to a 10 year old can be a little tricky because "they already know that!". Putting it to practical use is a different idea all together.
Measuring to the nearest inch, nearest half inch, nearest quarter inch, and the nearest eighth inch is very enlightening. Using objects that kids love like race cars, stuffed animals, books, stick of gum, etc, can make the measuring more intriguing.
Offering support and feedback is crucial to the understanding of measurement. Also asking questions like how many sixteenths are between the 1 inch and the 2 inch mark on the ruler? How many quarter inch marks are there between the 2 inch mark and the 3 inch mark? And even relating to simplified fractions for example: What mark on the ruler is the same as 8/16?
Kids know it looks cool to spin a ruler around on the point of a pencil, but when they feel cool because they understand, this is what creates the makings of a life long learner!

Movie Star Names

The students today came up with their "Movie Star" names...take your middle name for your first name and use your street name as your last name...There was a Henry Pinecrest, Willow Riverbanks, May River, Enrique Tammi, Wyat Jones and so on! The students were assigned the job to write a story using their movie star name as the main character.

The writing was the best I have seen from this group. They were truly inspired and created some amazing people! There was a great artist who returned to paint her teacher's portrait, there was a rock star who just happened to living in a VW van, there was a SWAT team agent who used nerf guns with playful accuracy and so on. The students read their stories aloud and were encouraged by the comments and compliments.

So here is to movie stars, imaginations, and colorful characters!

Reading, Reading, Reading...

Who would think the adventures of Calvin and Hobbs would continue to be so popular. This fun loving duo is up to regular tricks and speaks a child's mind and wishes! Calvin wants so very badly to be in charge. Hobbs is a willing stuffed animal that has become very real due to Calvin's imagination. The two pals find a good time in everything they do together.

Sometimes comics are the perfect motivator. They are short, colorful, context clues rich and even lend themselves to enriching vocabulary, for example, what is the difference in crochet and croquet! Comic strips like Calvin and Hobbs have a very special way of tickling funny bones.

Education

"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." Malcolm Forbes