Elvis, and Martin Luther King

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Jennie

When Martin Luther King died, Elvis Presley was devastated- along with everyone else.  He was scheduled to perform a few days later, and he was troubled.  He stayed up all night and wrote a song, and sang it instead of his scheduled performance.  Wow.

I saw the new Elvis movie, I was incredibly moved at this part of the movie.  I have always loved this song, now I know the story behind it.

If you have not seen the movie, it is very good.  I’m so glad that Priscilla Presley and their daughter Lisa Marie (before she died) went to the Golden Globes and also watched the movie.

Thank you to Elvis Presley for such a wonderful song.  You carry Martin Luther King’s passion and message, and the rest of us who hear you sing are moved, and inspired.

Music makes the world go round.  I will always bring music to children in my classroom.

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, Giving thanks, Inspiration, music, Peace, Singing | Tagged , , , | 52 Comments

A Story of Bravery – The Piano, and the Pianist, and Me

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Jennie

The scene:
It’s the holiday party for teachers and staff.  We’re at the lovely home of a fellow teacher, who is an accomplished pianist.  Actually, that’s an understatement.

Everyone is in the kitchen, eating and laughing.  The big family room is right off of the kitchen, up three stairs.  Huge decorated Christmas tree, fireplace, and… a 6 foot, 1 inch Yamaha grand piano.  Yes, grand.

Big.

Black.

The do-not-touch kind of piano.

What I did:
I kept staring.  I whispered to a few fellow teachers about going up the stairs and maybe playing a few notes on the piano.

If looks could kill.  They were shocked.

I had to be brave.  Alone brave.  I went to the piano and played the one and only song I could do- Heart and Soul.  I played the bottom half of the song, with all the chords.  Everyone was staring at me, like I have ripped the real Starry Night off the wall and was dancing around.

I kept playing and yelled, “Hey everyone!  Who can play the top part?  I need someone to come up and play the top part!”

Guess who came up… the pianist.

We had so much fun!  Everyone cheered.  I felt brave.

Then I asked the pianist if she would like to play ‘a little something’.  Oh, my!

It was ‘a little bit’ of Chopin’s “Minute” waltz in D flat.

Gulp!

At the end, we smiled, laughed, hugged, and somehow understood.

Bravery often triggers kindness.  When a person is brave, others jump in to help, to be a part of the scene.  That certainly happened with me.  I’m usually the one to jump in and help.  This time I was the brave one.

It’s what I teach children.  Be brave and help out.

Jennie

Posted in behavior, Early Education, Expressing words and feelings, Inspiration, self esteem, Teaching young children | Tagged , , , , , , | 69 Comments

Remembering My Mentor and Hero, Jim Trelease

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Jennie


Jim Trelease visiting my classroom.

Jim Trelease, the man who put reading-aloud on the map as #1 for children, has died. I had his million copy bestseller book since my kids were little. When I heard him speak at a teacher conference, I wanted to stand on a table and yell at all the teachers in attendance to listen to this man, because I knew he was spot on. I wrote to him, and a year later he wrote back. The rest is history…

It happened like this…

Back in the 80’s I found The Read-Aloud Handbook.  It was my ‘bible’ when our kids were little.  At the same time my reading aloud in the classroom became the best part of the day, because it made the biggest difference.  My head was always spinning and my heart was always overflowing.  The children couldn’t get enough.  I started reading chapter books when the lights went out and it was rest time.  I told children that the words go into their ears, then into their brain so they can make the pictures in their head.

The first chapter book I read to children was Charlotte’s Web.

I attended a teacher conference, and Jim Trelease was the keynote speaker.  He was powerful, dynamic, and as good of a speaker as he was a writer.  I was mesmerized.  This was heaven.  I looked around at the teachers in attendance, and many were chatting away with each other.  I wanted to scream.

What?!  This man is telling you everything that’s important.  This is the Holy Grail in teaching.  Pay attention!

Instead, I wrote a letter to Jim Trelease telling him that there are teachers who do what he writes about.  I included a copy of a newsletter I sent to parents about reading aloud and chapter reading.

That was that…until a year later.  Jim Trelease contacted me.  ME, as in OMG!  He was doing the 7th edition of his million-copy bestseller.  He asked if he could visit my classroom.  Well, yes!  He spent the whole morning with me and the children.  He took notes and watched us do an impromptu play performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  I remember him being behind the sofa as I read aloud The Magic Porridge Pot.  He watched me tracing the words with my fingers.

Jim spent lunch with fellow teachers at school, asking many questions, and with past parents.  I was not there.  He returned to my classroom for chapter reading- that’s what he was most interested in seeing.  When I turned out the lights he was surprised, and I told him that helps children hear the words and make the pictures in their head.  I also told him that the head of the English Department at the prep school in town does exactly the same thing when she reads to her seniors- heads down, lights out.

Jim returned to take photos and ask more questions.  I am included in the 7th edition.

I highly recommend this book, because it includes remarkable stories of reading aloud.  My favorites are the junior high school teacher in Boston, the kid from Russell, Kentucky, and Cuban cigars.  Here is the story of how reading aloud made Cuban cigars great:

https://jenniefitzkee.com/2017/11/30/why-reading-alou…ban-cigars-great/

Oh, there’s more…

I was born and raised in West Virginia.  When my childhood friend died, my sister who still lives in West Virginia sent me her obituary.  At the end it said “in lieu of flowers please send donations to Read Aloud West Virginia.”  Wait, I’m the queen of reading aloud, and I’m from West Virginia, and I’ve never heard of this organization?   I immediately typed ‘read aloud Massachusetts’, ‘read aloud New Hampshire’ and quickly realized there was only one- in West Virginia.

I emailed the director to tell her about my friend who had died, and to tell her that I read aloud in my classroom.  We had a long conversation, and I asked her if she knew Jim Trelease.

Well, Jim Trelease helped to found Read Aloud West Virginia.  Who knew?  What a connection!  Since then, I have been a strong supporter of Read Aloud West Virginia.

Oh yes, it gets even better…

Jim came to my school to do a conference for families.  He was terrific!

Recently I was invited to be a guest on the Kelly Clarkson Show.  I talked about reading aloud, and more.  It was terrific!  At the end of the show, one of my former students spoke (that was a moment), and Dollar General donated $50,000.00 to Read Aloud West Virginia.  Yes, I jumped up, screamed, and cried on the show.

Jim Trelease, you have come full circle.  Because of you, I read aloud and make a difference.  Because of you, I connected with Read Aloud West Virginia, and because of you, they are the recipients of much needed money.  Most importantly, you were my friend.  Thank you!

This is my favorite of your many quotes:

God Bless you, Jim. You have inspired and changed lives across the world.

Jennie

Posted in Book Review, chapter reading, Early Education, Giving thanks, Inspiration, Jim Trelease, literacy, Quotes, reading aloud | Tagged , , , | 119 Comments

Still Getting Cards From Students

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Jennie

As I go through my holiday cards today, my greatest joy is reading, touching, and re-reading the collection of cards from former students:

Amanda, age 16, now in California

Sophie, age 15, still in town

Mac, age 8, now in Vermont, (with an added note):

“We think of you often.  Mac is a reading machine- staying up way too late every night.  He recently re-read Charlotte’s Web, and I can’t help but think of you planting the seeds of the joy of stories and books.”


July, 2019

Colin, age 8, still in town

Emmett, age 7, in the next town over

There are also the many cards from current students, greetings and wishes via email and Messaging, and even a few FaceTimes.  That’s the ‘happy’ in Happy New Year.

Jennie

Posted in children's books, E.B. White, Expressing words and feelings, Giving thanks, Inspiration, literacy, reading, Teaching young children | Tagged , | 73 Comments

“Devotion” – The (Personal) Backstory

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Jennie


Current movie, “Devotion”

The story of Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner in the movie is true.  There’s much more to the story, which involves me and my family.  Really.

It happened like this…

1972.  Hubby is an Ensign in the Navy, headed to Vietnam on the carrier USS Kennedy.  His squadron was VF-32, the same squadron as Brown and Hudner.  He heard the story.  Everyone in VF-32 knew the story of Brown and Hudner.

2005.  Son was assigned to his first Navy squadron, amazingly also VF-32.  We visited him in Virginia Beach, and he showed us the Ready Room and the squadron hanger.  I still remember walking down the hallway and seeing Jesse Brown’s portrait on the wall.  I asked about him, and our son gave us the ‘long and proud’ story.  VF-32 will always honor these heroes.

At the same time, our son’s school reached out to alumni, ‘what are you doing now’, for their annual bulletin.  Hubby wrote what our son was doing.  Low and behold he got a phone call from the Development Director:

“Hi Steve.  Thank you for writing about your son.  I was so excited to read that he is assigned to VF-32.  This is Tom Hudner.  My father was also Tom Hudner, and assigned to VF-32.”

Well… as you can imagine, that was a long and memorable conversation.  What a connection!  Hudner flew the F4U Corsair.  Hubby flew the F4 Phantom.  Son flew the F18 Super Hornet.

Oh, there’s more…

July 2010.  The newest Fisher House was built in Boston.  Fisher Houses are a wonderful charity of the Fisher family- Zachary Fisher recovered the USS Intrepid (ready to be scrapped) and turned it into a museum in NYC.  His family now builds houses alongside VA hospitals for families of soldiers to have a place to stay.  As is the tradition, Medal of Honor recipients participate in the groundbreaking ceremony.

Captain Tom Hudner USN was there.

April 2011.  My class gifted our God Bless America quilt to the Boston Fisher House, after it was invited to be on display at the Intrepid Museum.  For those of you who know my Milly the Quilter blog posts, this is a wonderful story.  Here is a snippet:  https://jenniefitzkee.com/2021/07/31/milly-part-6/
I saw Tom Hudner’s picture on the wall of the Fisher House, holding a shovel at the groundbreaking ceremony.

July 2011.  This was the one-year anniversary of the Fisher House.  The quilt was the heart of the event.  The Fisher Family was there, as is the custom at a one-year anniversary.  We sang, presented the quilt, and received Command Coins from the Fishers.  I made sure I walked over to Tom Hudner’s photo.  I talked to him (really):

“Tom, you were the main event a year ago when the Fisher House opened, and I am the main event event at the one-year anniversary.  What an honor to be a little part of you.”


Invitation to the one-year anniversary,
which includes a part of the God Bless America quilt.

July, 2013.  Tom Hudner returned to Korea to try to find Jesse Brown’s remains, or the remains of the aircraft.  He was 89 years ‘young’.  He did not find anything, yet he never gave up after all those years.  His son, Tom, told Hubby that his dad looked after Jesse Brown’s wife and remained friends for the rest of his life.

Tom Hudner was a real hero and role model for how to live your life – Ship, Shipmate, Self – as they say in the Navy.

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, Giving thanks, Inspiration, military, patriotism | Tagged , , , , | 50 Comments

A Message

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Jennie

Surely there is a message here.
This must be a sign.
I’m excited!

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, Inspiration, wonder | Tagged , , | 43 Comments

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2022 by Jennie

Merry Christmas!

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, wonder | Tagged | 50 Comments

The True Story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Jennie

As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May wasn’t feeling much comfort or joy. A 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, May was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after their four-year old-daughter, Barbara.

One night, Barbara asked her father, “Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. But he wanted to give his daughter hope, and show her that being different was nothing to be ashamed of. More than that, he wanted her to know that he loved her and would always take care of her. So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. As he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture book.

In early December, Bob’s wife died. Though he was heartbroken, he kept working on the book for his daughter. A few days before Christmas, he reluctantly attended a company party at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own. Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of good will, the head of the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph had made him into a millionaire.

Now remarried with a growing family, May felt blessed by his good fortune. But there was more to come. His brother-in-law, a successful songwriter named Johnny Marks, set the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star had scored a holiday hit with “Here Comes Santa Claus” a few years before. Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina. She was so touched by the line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games” that she insisted her husband record the tune.

Within a few years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind “White Christmas.” Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in song by Johnny Marks has come to symbolize Christmas as much as Santa Claus, evergreen trees and presents. As the last line of the song says, “He’ll go down in history.”

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, Family, Inspiration, Kindness, Love, picture books, self esteem, wonder | Tagged , , | 67 Comments

My Favorite Christmas Ad – Repost

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Jennie

My favorite Christmas Ad, every year.

The Spirit of Christmas
That’s what it’s really about.
This is the year we need to keep that spirit alive.
This is the year we need to find happiness.
If we are happy, it is contagious.
I bring you my favorite ad, as this is the one to, well…
fill me with twinkle lights that shoot out of my fingers and toes.
Yes, this is the one.

May you find happiness and joy this season.
It’s the little things, not the big things, that are important.
Dance, smile, hug your kids, look at the sky.
You will become the shooting star for others.

Jennie

Posted in Expressing words and feelings, Family, Inspiration, joy, Love, wonder | Tagged , , , | 70 Comments

Best Children’s Christmas Books – Annual Post

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Jennie

Christmas books are often more meaningful to read to a child after the holiday, once a child has experienced the joy of Christmas.     

Red and Lulu, by Matt Tavares is the story of two cardinals who live in a mighty evergreen tree.  They love their home, their tree.  Best of all, they love it when winter arrives and Christmas carolers sing close by.  Red leaves to get food, and when he returns, the tree is being cut down and hauled away.  He tells Lulu to stay, and he desperately follows the truck as it drives the tree away – but he can’t fly fast enough.  The tree becomes the tree at Rockefeller Center, and the story behind finding Lulu and what happens is fascinating.  It’s Christmas, nature, love, adventure, and never giving up.

This is a repost of my favorite Christmas books.  Every year they grow stronger, because children love them.  These are the books children and adults want to read over and over again.  That’s why they’re the best.  Please, go to the library, get some of these books and read them aloud to your children.  You will be hooked, too.

I want to share with you my favorite Christmas books.  I love books, and I love reading to children.  After a gazillion years, these are the ‘tried and true’, stories that children love. Me, too!

Grab tissues, laughter, and wonder, and some history.  Some books you will recognize. Others might seem new, but they’re not— they’re just better.

The first time I read The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg was in 1985, when the book was published.  I was at a huge family Christmas gathering. Someone put the book in my hand and asked me to read it to the crowd.  This was a new book for me, and as I read the words I was on that train ride.  The ending was hard to read aloud with my heart in my throat. The movie is good, but the book is superior.

On Christmas Eve, by Peter Collington is a captivating wordless book, in the style of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.  It is based in England, with fairies and Santa Claus traditions.  It is fascinating to follow the fairies helping Santa!

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree, by Robert Barry is a delightfully predictable tale of a tree that is too tall.  Each time the top is snipped off, it goes to someone else who has the same problem, and so on.  The mouse gets the very last tree top.  The story is done in rhyme, always a delight to the ears of children.

Morris’s Disappearing Bag, by Rosemary Wells is the story of Morris, the youngest in the family, who is too little to play with his sibling’s gifts.  He discovers one last present under the tree, a disappearing bag.  I wonder if J.K. Rowling read this book- perhaps it was the inspiration to create Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.

Carl’s Christmas, by Alexandra Day is one of the Carl book series.  It is beautifully done with full color illustrations.  Of course Carl is a dog who is often left to look after the baby.  That beginning alone is a story grabber.  Best of all, it is a wordless book, leaving much to speculate and talk about.

Santa Bruce, by Ryan T. Higgins is the newest book on this list.  Bruce is a grumpy old bear, and is again the victim of mistaken identity.  He is not the real Santa, yet all the animals are convinced that he is.  The book is absolutely hilarious.

If I had to pick only one out of the pile of books, it would be Apple Tree Christmas, by Trinka Hakes Noble.  The story takes place in New Hampshire in the 1800’s.  A blizzard, a farm, a tree, and a child who loves to draw.  It is thrilling from beginning to end… grab the tissues, it’s a true story.


My almost number one book is The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston.  The story takes place in rural Appalachia, close to my roots.  It is a story of rural traditions, WWI, a train, and what a mother does on Christmas Eve.  And, it’s a true story. Recommended for kindergarten and above.

Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, by Tomie dePaola is a favorite. Everyone loves Strega Nona and Big Anthony.  This book incorporates the culture of Italy and Christmas, and the lessons of life.

Night Tree, by Eve Bunting is a modern tale that tells the story of a family and their tree in the woods.  Every Christmas Eve the family bundles up and heads from their house to the woods.  They find “their tree”, the one they have decorated every year for the animals.  It is a well written story, weaving adventure and giving, and family being together.

Dr. Seuss has always been one of the best.  He outdid himself with How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  The message of the true meaning of Christmas shines through in this book.  Please skip the movie, it doesn’t hold a candle to the book.

Every adult should read these books.  Period.  They are that good.  Then, spread the joy and learning by reading aloud these books to children, young and old.  They will love the stories.  You will, too.

Merry Christmas!

Jennie

Posted in Book Review, children's books, Family, Inspiration, joy, picture books, reading aloud, wonder | Tagged , | 50 Comments