In my last blog post, I included a favorite song I sing with children, “The Sun and the Rain Make a Rainbow.” I searched through YouTube to find the song- nothing. So, I just sang it myself. Fellow blogger Debby at https://dgkayewriter.com/ suggested I put it on YouTube since no one else had.
I did. At the moment, I have 4.8K views!
Jennie
Today’s weather was everything in dramatic fashion. The morning brought torrential rains, including five tornadoes here in Massachusetts. Tornadoes are rare up here. Then, the sun came out. Next, billowing thunderclouds began to form.
We had to run errands, and we watched those big clouds grow and darken along the highway. More rain! Driving home the sun was coming out again, right after the rain, which is always a lucky and hopeful recipe for a rainbow.
It started to form.
Then it grew across the sky.
One of the songs I sing with children is “The Sun and the Rain Make a Rainbow.” It’s wonderful, and children love it. Since no one sings this on YouTube (I have no idea who wrote or sings the song), I guess I’ll have to sing it for you myself.
There is magic in rainbows. There is wonder in in the sky.
“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow,
you gotta put up with the rain.”
~Dolly Parton~
Jennie
I’ve always loved looking at clouds, even as a child. When we moved to New England I appreciated clouds even more. Were they different or more beautiful? No, I think it was me, especially the preschool teacher in me. I paid attention to what was ‘there’ outside, and I always marveled with children at the discoveries we made, together. We found bugs in tree bark. We opened dead marigolds to uncover their seeds.
We looked at clouds, watching as they grew into thunderstorms, and delighting in finding animal shapes.
Fast forward twenty years. Hubby and I moved into a smaller home, same town. Suddenly we had a big, open sky in our backyard. We spent evening after evening with our heads up, marveling like we were children. Hubby was a fighter jet guy in the Navy, so he knew far more about clouds and weather than the guys on TV. He would tell me about the clouds and what was happening during our evenings.
This week we looked up, and there was something that brought us back to our first cloud watchings twenty years ago. I can’t put a finger on it, but we both ‘saw it’ at the same time. What a great flashback!
The sky was never-ending in the bluest of blues. Clouds had a backdrop to ‘show off’. A full circumference intensified the marvel.
Children are like clouds; a bright spot with imagination, and ever-changing.
I think about the Renaissance artists who painted the sky and clouds. I think about the musicians who wrote songs and sang about clouds. I have a soft spot and a passion for The Temptations.
Look up, ’cause you never know what wonder may appear.
Jennie
A letter from a parent is always special. When the parent is my pen-pal and former student’s mom, it’s very special. When she bought a book I had recommended on this blog, that was the frosting on the cake. I hope you enjoy the letter as much as I did.
Hi Jennie,
Hope this email finds you well!
We did receive your letter. It brings such a joy and big smile on Kiansh’s faces that it melts my heart every single time! Thank you for being his pen-pal and most importantly being there for him.
He loved pictures of Woody and already told me what he wants to write so we will be working on letter soon! 🥰
I personally wanted to thank you for sharing good books to read on your blog. If not weekly, couple times in a month I do check your blog! Every single of them I have loved to read! And I have to share this with you. We have friends whose daughter loves to read. She will be in 4th grade starting September and her birthday is in summer. So knowing her reading interest I was looking for a good book to gift her on her birthday! And reading your blog I learn about a book “Wonder”, and I decided to get that book as gift for her. Guess what? Today her mom send me this message, big thank you to you! 🙏🏻❤️ It’s less than a month we give a book to her…🪄
Hope you know that you are making such a big impact by writing on your blog! ❤️💗🙏🏻 Keep up the great work 🙏🏻!
Also will you be in the school this Thursday evening? Thursday is Kiansh’s last day for camp and also at GCS! I still remember his first day at Aqua Room and how it all started! Just wanted to stop bye to say good bye on Thursday before he embark on new phase and new venture! We will miss GCS and you 🥰! But I am sure he will continue to be your pen-pal 🖊️.
Warm Regards,
Priyanki
Tonight was a beautiful evening, the kind that makes you stop and take notice, spend time looking… and thinking.
I needed to do some thinking. A child who was in my class years ago passed away. The funeral was a roller coaster of emotions, especially when the mom saw me and held on, crying, as if we were on a sinking ship.
Yes, we were on a sinking ship.
I can tell you all the bright, wonderful things about this student, the memories, the smiles; but that still stings. I couldn’t shake the grief, and the memories didn’t help.
Until today.
Tonight I saw beauty- flowers, sun and shade, and a picture perfect view of, well, life. Nature is life, and it is beautiful. This hit me. I knew the world was giving me peace, at last.
There is a higher power that understands and knows what to do, like opening the beautiful world for our eyes to see. Nature is beauty, and beauty is peace. I have found peace.
Pandora music just happened to play the perfect song, “Wildfire.” Coincidence? I think not.
Jennie
He has been unable to read for two years.
The words and pages ‘move’ with his eye problems.
As a result, he stopped reading books.
He gave it another try.
Seeing him reading again is a joy.
I think he picked a winner – Knuckleheads
by Dan Antion.
nofacilities.com
Jennie
P.S. I have been told to order the next two books in the series. That’s music to my ears. Oh, in the meantime he needs another book to read. I have the perfect book:
MY GRL, by John Howell
johnwhowell.com
Did you ever eat dinner in the pool?
Not by the pool, in the pool.
It happened like this…
The children had been brave all afternoon,
jumping onto rafts without adult hands,
mastering super soakers,
and playing in the deep end.
When pizza arrived for dinner,
I walked to the pool stairs and gave a nod of the head
and a smile at the children.
They joined me in a heartbeat.
The other adults missed the adventure.
Hooray for children, bravery, and eating pizza in the pool.
Not a morsel was dropped.
Jennie
Reading a book is perfect.
Reading by the pool is more perfect.
Reading Amanda books is most perfect.
I just finished the book!
I don’t get to read as much as I want to. Summer is my window, and I dive into my TBR books, particularly older children’s books. The Amanda series is packed with adventure, sleuthing, geography, and learning about some remarkable places. I finished France, and next I’m off to England. Thank you to Darlene Foster for giving children (and me) the pleasure of a great book. You can find Darlene at darlenefoster.wordpress.com
Jennie
“Music is a moral law.
it gives soul to the universe,
wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination,
and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
~ Plato ~
classic statues Plato sitting
For more wonderful quotations at the end of great posts,
visit Beth at ididnthavemyglasseson.com
Jennie
I stopped by school last week, which is currently in Summer Camp mode. High school volunteers are a welcome and fun part of the group. What happened was delightful:
First I was mobbed by children (always wonderful), then Jess, a new teacher who is spectacular, asked if I wanted to pop into the classroom to say hi to the kids. Of course I did. Her volunteer was Sophie, a former student in my class.
Sophie: “Hi Jennie.”
Me: “Sophie! Jess, Sophie was an Aqua Roomer.”
Jess: “Really! That’s so cool.”
Me: “Sophie, do you remember the God Bless America Quilt? Do you remember Milly the quilter?”
Sophie beamed with shooting stars from her eyes and smile. She kept shaking her head ‘yes’.
Jess: “Who’s Milly? What quilt?”
Me: “We designed a quilt because the children loved singing “God Bless America.” Milly made the quilt and we went on a field trip to NYC to the Intrepid Museum.”
Jess: “A field trip to NYC?” Her stunned face said it all.
Me: “Yup. Tell her, Sophie.”
Sophie did. Her cheeks must have hurt from all that smiling.
Me: “Sophie, I still have the book the Aqua Roomers made of the song. I know which page is yours. I’ll bring the book in to show you.”
Book cover
Sophie’s page
Me: “Jess, we talk about emergent curriculum all the time. I had no idea the song would become beloved. I had to follow the interest of the children. I have a book of the entire year. I’ll bring it in to show you.”
Book cover
On the Intrepid
Sophie is the second child from the right
I go to school again tomorrow for a meeting. I can’t wait to show Sophie and Jess the books. Stay tuned!
A Nice Bit Of History!
(Did you know there are lyrics before the words “God bless America, land that I love.”?)
Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time and said that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing “God Bless America” on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.
Here are the facts… The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the first public singing of “GOD BLESS AMERICA”. But before you watch it, you should also know the story behind the first public showing of the song.
The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe, and Americans feared we’d have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.
This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith.
Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings”. Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.
Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American songwriter, Irving Berlin (who also wrote “White Christmas”) and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country. When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before – way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.
This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple of verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, “You’re In The Army Now.” At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it’s Ronald Reagan.
To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry… And for many generations of Americans to follow.
Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Many people don’t know there’s a lead-in to the song since it usually starts with “God Bless America …..” So here’s the entire song as originally sung….. ENJOY! Please click the below:
A Teacher's Reflections 