No!!! It's a...

Antoinette Portis wrote a book titled, "Not a Box." This book is super cute and captures the mindset of children before we put parameters on their imagination. This is a great book to read with kids! Children can make predictions on what the box might be (maybe they'll come up with something not mentioned in the book), and they can start to recognize patterns/words (because every other page the bunny says, "It's not a box"). This is also a book that once you read it with your child a few times you may see them pick the book up and read it to themselves. This book is also a great reminder to adolescents and adults to think out and inside of the box (pun intended).

A superfantasic, totally cool, 'wish I had one of those when I was little' is the bilibo. This object is shaped like half of a turtle shell. Parents would always ask me, "Why would anyone want that?" Are you crazy! Who wouldn't want one. These things are awesome. It allows you to use your imagination to do anything you want with it. You could pretend to be a turtle, an alien, an adventurer, a bug. You could use it in the pool, down a snowy slope, in the sand box, with the snow, to dig, to throw, to build, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Haven't you ever seen kids playing with the box. They usually passover what's inside and have more fun with the box.

If you've never heard of either of these things check them out!

Well That Just Makes Sense

There is man, Sir Ken Robinson, who has a lot of great ideas about education today. If you've never heard of him I highly recommend that you check him out. Most of the things he says seem like basic common sense.

I especially agreed with his comments questioning why kids should be motivated to go to school. Not so long ago, if you wanted to do well in life you had to finish high school and continue on to college. Now everyone's been to college so it's expected. The next thing you have to get is a Master's degree...Well what happens when that becomes the norm? What is the motivator to finish school? Or go to college? Especially when the end seems to be no where in sight?

Sir Ken Robinson also has some very interesting ideas about creativity. Hopefully his ideas are not only heard, but acted upon.

Three things parents can do to help their children in life and in school

I moved about a year ago and in doing so left teaching behind. Some days I really miss teaching, I mean really really really miss it. But other days when I think about all the report cards, school meetings, extra classes, and now all the slack teachers get about, "US students are behind in almost every subject because of teachers, they must the reason students are failing," I don't miss it at all.

I agree with many others who ask, "What about the parents!?!?" Because when you think about it teachers come and go every year, but parents are around for a lifetime. Teachers cannot be held accountable for what happens before school, after school and when school is out.

How many parents take time to have a conversation with their child about anything? How many parents spend 10+ minutes reading to their kids? How many parents take their kids to museums and talk to them about the exhibits (not just, "oh wow look at that")?

One interesting article discusses play at home, causes for why kids don't play at home, and why play is so important. Having a child is a lot of responsibility and not all children are self-motivated to learn and achieve. Based on my teaching experience and education there are (at the very minimum) three things parents can do to set their child up for success:

1) Read to/with your child at least an hour a day and discuss what you're reading. This hour doesn't have to be in one sitting, and you don't have to always be reading a book. You could read a recipe, comic book, newspaper, magazine, online article, email, picture book, etc. Most importantly talk about it! Don't just read it and put it away! Ask questions, share your thoughts, talk about your experiences, make predictions, make connections, talk about the vocabulary used, ask what ifs...

2) Talk with your child. In the teaching world we have moments called "teachable moments." This is when something happens that may or may not be related to what you are teaching but you use this opportunity to teach. This happens ALL THE TIME! This can be about anything (i.e. when the trash truck comes, why does it come and where does it go; why do we wash our hands; why is it important to eat healthy foods; why are there commercials on tv; why do some people wear glasses; why do we use plates; how does a vehicle work, depending on the age of the child depends on how in-depth an answer you give). But just talk to them, and it's ok if you don't know. Then you can work with your child to find the answer out together, an even better opportunity for your child to learn how to conduct research!

3)Spend quality time with your child. If you are doing # 1 & 2, then you are most likely already doing this. I don't mean time where your child is in the same room and you're watching TV or working on the computer or talking on the phone. I mean time where you are at your child's disposal if they need help or have a question. You are focused on them. This doesn't have to be every waking moment, but make sure you have time allotted just for this.

Can you imagine how different our students would be if all parents did at least these 3 things?

Big Bootie!

My wonderful brother taught me a new game to play...It's a little confusing to explain, but tons of fun to play.
One person is Big Bootie (BB). The person to the left of BB is #1, then #2 and so on until you get back to BB. Everyone says the chant and then BB says "Big Bootie # ___ (any number that is represented)" Then the # BB chose has to say their number and then the next person keeps it going. Watch this video or Read these directions

The chant goes
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Big Bootie Big Bootie Big Bootie. Oh yeah. Big Bootie. Big Bootie number _____"

I really don't know how to explain this well on paper (or screen), but the kids loved it. It took some time to learn, but the students got way into this. They were moving their entire bodies to the chant and having a blast.....this is going to be one fun filled year.....

Meeting Circle

Due to the Responsive Classroom training I went to this summer, I decided to try my morning circle with chairs this year (instead of sitting on the floor). This took a lot of modeling today and practice, but it went really well. I felt that the chairs had a more sophisticated feeling to them and that they helped students stay focused during our mini lessons. Also, moving the chairs around during the day gives students an opportunity to get up and move. I can tell that moving chairs will be something that we will have to use reminding language for, but overall I think this strategy may actually improve my teaching! WaHooo!

(so for those of you who haven't yet noticed, today was a really good first day)