When Teachers Tell Their Stories – Part 8

Posted on August 24, 2019 by Jennie

In Part 7, I told the story of the huge tree that almost fell over on our neighbor’s house.  The Fire Chief in his big red fire truck, and the Tree Man in his cherry picker truck added plenty of real life drama.

Part 8
My storytelling typically happens at lunchtime.  Children keep an eye on the clock, because they know at 12:30, Jennie will tell a story.  The complex act of reading an analog clock is a side benefit.  When the big hand on the clock reaches the 6, the chant begins: Jen-nie-stor-y.  Sometimes this chant is accompanied by fist-banging on the table to each beat.

While a Jennie Story, which is a true story, begins with “It happened like this”, occasionally I surprise children by starting a story with “Once upon a time.”  Typically I will then tell a fairy tale.  The Little Red Hen is a favorite.

I will close this series of Teacher Stories with one last favorite Jennie Story,

The Bird Story


My favorite illustration, painted by my daughter.  While the true story is about her, the story I wrote is about a boy and his bird – thus the illustration.

“It happened like this.”  All my daughter wanted for Christmas was a bird, a soft green bird like the ones she had seen at the pet store.  She wanted to touch and stroke the bird’s feathers.  She wanted the bird to sit on her finger.  She called it ‘finger training’.  As Christmas was soon approaching, she was as good as gold.  So was her letter to Santa.  And on Christmas Eve, we all hoped and wished that Santa would bring her a bird.

Christmas morning finally arrived.  Chirps!  She heard chirps, ran downstairs, and there was a bird in a cage.  He was beautiful.  He was green, and he looked so soft.

She carefully opened the cage and touched his feathers.  Then she slowly put her finger into the cage.  The bird hopped on and she pulled the bird on her finger out of the cage. Just as she touched his soft, green feathers, the bird flew away.  It was hard to get him back into the cage.

We needed a better plan.  I called the pet store.

“The bird keeps fluttering and flying away.  What can we do?”

“Bring the bird in to the store.  We’ll trim the tip end of the feathers on his wings so he won’t be able to fly away.  It doesn’t hurt the bird at all.”

Great idea!  The pet store trimmed the wing feathers, and we had the perfect spot for ‘finger training’ – the bathroom!  The bird would be safe, no place to fly away.  So, we closed the toilet lid and closed the door.  I went downstairs to make dinner.  A few minutes later my daughter screamed, the kind of scream that meant something was really bad.  I ran upstairs and opened the bathroom door.

“What’s wrong?  Where’s the bird?”

The bird had discovered a small round hole in the baseboard under the sink.  He poked his head in the hole and fell in.  The bird was trapped under the floor.  Even worse, he couldn’t fly up to get out of the hole since his wing feathers had been trimmed.

I called the pet store.

“Put a chain down the hole so the bird can climb back up.  Put food and water and light down the hole.  Hopefully the bird will come to eat and drink, see the chain, and climb up to get out.”

We got the right sized chain from the hardware store and hung it down the hole.  Then we tied a mini flashlight to a string and lowered it down the hole.  Next we threw birdseed and water down the hole.

And we waited and waited.

Nothing happened for days.  Everyone was worried.  Sometimes we heard chirps, but the bird did not come.  Our house was old, so the space between the downstairs ceiling and the upstairs floor was big.  What was the bird doing?  Maybe he met other animals.  Maybe there were fireflies and ants and beetles down there, perhaps an entire village.  Maybe the bird made new friends and did not want to come back.

Eight days went by, and no bird.  The chirping had stopped.  My daughter said, “I think he’s lonely for other birds.  We should play bird sounds for him so he’ll climb up the chain out of the hole.”

Great idea!

We went to the music store and got a record of bird sounds.  Then we set up the little record player in the bathroom right beside the hole.  Everyone held their breath as we played the music.  A few minutes later the chain started to move.  The bird poked his head out of the hole.  He climbed out!  As he fluttered everywhere, we all cried a little and smiled a lot.  Especially my daughter.

Jennie

Posted in Early Education, Expressing words and feelings, Imagination, Inspiration, preschool, storytelling, Teaching young children, wonder | Tagged , , , , , | 55 Comments

Today’s Quote

Posted on August 22, 2019 by Jennie
Posted in Uncategorized | 31 Comments

Two Moons, Two Jane Yolen Books

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Jennie

The year was 1987.  I had been teaching preschool for three years.  I was immersed in children’s books, reading the great ones and the new ones.  That was the year I became picky about books, because what I read aloud to children made all the difference in the world.  I had mastered the art of stopping in the middle of reading to laugh, or cry, or to have an important conversation.  Reading aloud and knowing good books had become ‘my thing.’

1987 was also the year Jane Yolen wrote Owl Moon.  It won the coveted Caldecott Medal.  It is that good.

The book transformed my reading, or perhaps it transformed me.  I did far more than just read the words aloud.  Children went on a hunt outdoors to find bits and pieces of nature in order to create our own Owl Moon mural.  I remember showing children the illustrations and how to draw with a pencil before water coloring.  I remember children breaking off pieces of pinecone to create the big wings of the owl.

This was something I had never done before, a major group art project based on a children’s book.

I hosted a family event at school at night.  We went owling in the woods beyond our playground.  It was very dark, it was wonderful.  Children also made paper bag owls. Decades later, a child who had been in my class told me she still had her paper bag owl.  Families still reminisce to this day about going owling.

This was completely new for me, hosting a major event for families based on a children’s book.  It fueled my fire for good children’s books.

Fast forward to a few years ago.  Jane Yolen was a guest speaker at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.  The museum is dedicated to children’s book art, and often has authors as guest readers and speakers.

After her wonderful presentation, I had a chance to meet Jane Yolen.  I told her about going owling, and how her book had made such a difference.  We talked!  I realized that people around us were silent, as our conversation was deep and true.

Jane Yolen and her talented author daughter Heidi (yes, the child in Owl Moon!) have written a new book this year.  It is about a moon.  Well, it is about far more than a moon. Who better to write a children’s book about a moon?

It’s been thirty-two years since Owl Moon was published.  Yet, 2019 was just the right year for this book, A Kite for Moon.  Fifty years ago, astronauts landed on the moon.  Neil Armstrong made the  event famous with his words.  Jane Yolen makes the event more meaningful by writing what may have inspired many children like Neil.  “A very small boy was flying his kite on the beach near his house.  He looked up, at the moon.”

The story is simple, yet filled with hope and promise over many years.  The boy never gives up sending a kite to the moon.  Never.  He works hard at his studies, he dreams, and he promises a visit.  Words like waxed and waned, eclipsed, and math words like equations, keep children curious.  They make teachers pause for spontaneous discussions and sidetracked lessons.

In the final pages of the book, the grown boy reaches the moon as an astronaut, yet his words carry the message he has always felt and worked hard for —  “Hello Moon”, he said.  “I’ve come for that visit.”  And the whole world watched.

I have read this remarkable book only six times, and I feel fire and hope every single time. I can’t wait for the school year to start and read this book to the children.

Owl Moon took the children owling.  I wonder where A Kite for Moon will take my class.  A telescope to look at the moon at night?  Whatever it is, I echo the dedication and tribute words in the book:

For Neil Armstrong, who showed us the way.

Jennie

Posted in Author interview, Book Review, books, children's books, Early Education, Eric Carle, Inspiration, picture books, preschool, reading aloud, reading aloud, Teaching young children, wonder | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 81 Comments

Heaven at Night

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Jennie

The dragonfly show has finished.
Summer children are sleeping.
The sun has set.
Another beautiful world is awakening.
Heaven, indeed.

Jennie

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My Summer Children

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Jennie

Children are a wonder.

Nature is a wonder, too.

Both grow, with the help of loving adults.

I take care of my ‘summer children.’

My eyes are witness to life, and sometimes death.  I see beauty, and I am humbled by my  ever changing ‘children’.  They all have names, of course.  Mister Mica is the beautiful protector.  Tropicana gives everyone orange brilliance.  The hand carved Huntington fish is playful.  Ted, (not shown) the really big fish, is Hubby’s brother.  Flashy shimmers when the sun goes down.  So does Jewels.  The list is a long one.  It is our wonderful family.

From flowers to fish, these are my ‘summer children’, and my little piece of heaven.

Jennie

Posted in Diversity, Expressing words and feelings, Family, Giving thanks, Inspiration, joy, Nature, wonder | Tagged , , , , , , | 51 Comments

When Teachers Tell Their Stories – Part 7

Posted on August 11, 2019 by Jennie

In Part 6, I turned off the lights to tell a story, “The Halloween Story.”  Lights off can be as bonding as snuggling, and definitely an attention grabber.  The lesson learned was being brave, and how scary things might not be scary after all.

Part 7
There is no intentional learning for children, nor animals in this story.  It is the ‘real deal’.  It just happened.  And the thrilling story speaks for itself, absolutely captivating children.  Good stories are like that.

The Tree Story

Fruits of Sweet Gum Tree

I begin the story holding my arm straight up and saying, “My house”, then moving my arm to the left and saying, “The Kruger’s house.”  This is important to the story, so I repeat those words with my arm.

“It happened like this.”  In the middle, right in between the two houses, was a huge tree.  It was gigantic, a towering sweet gum tree.  It was much too big to be between the houses. Now, a sweet gum tree has thousands of balls that are full of sharp prickers.  They dropped all over the yard.  Grass couldn’t grow. Not only that, you couldn’t walk barefoot because the sweet gum balls stabbed your feet.  They even went all the way through flip-flops.  Ouch!

The tree had to come down.

Where I worked there was a man named Ray.  He would come to your house and take down your tree.  It didn’t cost you anything, because he kept all the wood from the tree.  So, I said, “Ray, it’s the sweet gum tree.  It’s right between my house and the Kruger’s.  It’s way too big, and the prickers are all over the place.  Can you come over and take down the tree?”

Sure enough, bright and early Saturday morning, Ray arrived.  He had his two big teenage sons with him.  They got to work right away.  First they went up to the tip top and started taking down branches.

I make sweeping chopping movements and sounds.

Ray chopped off the top part of the tree.  Next, he moved to the lower section of branches and started taking them down.  They were much bigger.

I make slow, heavy chopping movements and sounds.

The wind started to blow, so Ray and his sons came down from the tree and took a lunch break.  Soon, they were back up, and cutting away.  The branches were really big, and it was hard to cut them.  As they worked, the wind became strong.  They were getting close to the lower part of the tree.  Ray decided they should stop, and make the big cut at the bottom to take down the tree.  It was too hard to cut big branches in all the wind.

He said it would be okay.

As Ray made the cut…

This is where I put up my arm, lean it a little to the left (the Kruger’s house) slowly making creaking sounds.  I do this twice.  Inevitably a child ‘gets it’ and says, “No!  it’s going the wrong way!”

And the pace quickens.  I’m telling the story as if I’m telling  the part in Jack and the Beanstalk where Jack is climbing down the beanstalk being chased by the giant.  The difference is… my story is real.

Yes!  It’s going the wrong way!  The tree might crash on the Kruger’s house.  Steve ran across the street to Jim’s house.  Jim had the thick, orange, glow-in-the-dark rope that never brakes. Never, ever.  Jim saw the emergency and came to help.  They wrapped the thick orange rope around the tree.

I move my arm, circling hard and fast, as if I’m wrapping that rope.

Now, there were five big, strong men holding the rope- Steve, Jim, Ray and his two sons.  They grabbed the ends of the rope and said, “One, two, three, pull!”  They pulled.  And the rope went snap, snap, snap.

I snap my fingers each time I say ‘snap’.  There is silence.  No one speaks or moves.

This was really bad.  This was a real emergency.  What do you do when there is a real emergency?  Who do you call?

9-1-9.

No, that’s close, but not the right number.

9-1-1.

Yes!  Steve said, “Jennie, call 9-1-1.”  I did.  I was so nervous.  My hands were shaking.  It was hard to dial the phone.

“Hello.  It’s  the sweet gum tree.  It’s going to crash on the Kruger’s house.  Please help.”

Within minutes the big, red fire truck arrived.  Mike Aimen, the Fire Chief, was driving the truck.  He looked at everything and talked to Steve.  I could see him crossing his arms. Then he looked down, shaking his head. “I cannot help you”, he said.  “The only person who can help is The Tree Man.”

I called right away.  “Hello?  It’s the tree at the Fitzkee’s house.  It’s ready to fall down, on the Kruger’s house.”

“I’ll be right over.”

When The Tree Man arrived he never smiled.  He didn’t say a word.   He had a huge cherry picker truck, and he rode in the bucket to get to the tree.  By now, it was starting to get dark.  And the wind was howling.

Steve said, “Jennie, leave.  Take the children and go away.  I don’t want them to be here if something terrible happens.”  He was right.  I put the kids in the car and took them to McDonald’s for dinner.  They loved it, I couldn’t eat a bite.  When we got back home, it was dark.  All the neighbors were lined up on the street, looking at The Tree Man.  The fire truck was still there so it could shine a bright beam of flood light on the tree.  No one said a word.  All we could hear was the wind and The Tree Man’s saw.

It was bedtime for our children.  I decided to bring sleeping bags downstairs to the den, just in case the tree crashed through our roof.  As I rolled out the sleeping bags, I felt the ground shake, and I heard a low rumble.  The tree had fallen!  I rushed outside to see the giant tree trunk in our backyard.  Whew.

The neighbors went home.  The fire chief went home.  The Tree Man finally spoke to us.  “You were very lucky.  I did not think I could save how that tree fell.  You should never, ever have someone take down a big tree unless they are a professional.”  We thanked him over and over.  We were lucky.

Jennie

Stay tuned for Part 8.

Posted in Early Education, Mother Nature, Nature, storytelling, Teaching young children, wonder | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 61 Comments

Today’s Quote

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Jennie
Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments

Wish Tree

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Jennie

Have you ever seen  a Wish Tree?

Walking along a beach on Cape Cod with friends, we rounded a bend along the sand where it meets the shore.  This was a remote stretch of the beach, quite a distance from the usual spot where people set up their chairs and umbrellas. The walk was long.

And there it was.  An old felled tree.  It was covered with shells, each one placed carefully. The shells were a multitude of types and sizes.  The enormity of what was right in front of us was enough to stop everyone in their tracks.

I knew right away it was a Wish Tree.

“Look at all those shells.  They’re so pretty”, said my friend.  And she reached to take one.

“No!” I shouted.  Everyone looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“Don’t you know what this is?  It’s a Wish Tree.  Every shell is a wish that someone has put on this tree.”

Silence

“These are sacred.  Well, they are to the people who placed their wish on the tree.  No wonder it’s out of the way, far from tourists.  The shells are so beautiful.”

More silence.

“I’d like to make a wish.  Would you?”

I carefully looked for just the right shell, one that spoke to me.  I picked the right one, and I had a ‘moment’, making a wish and hanging it on the tree.

Alice did the same thing.  And Jane and Paula did, too.  We were quiet. Everyone was now part of the Wish Tree.  How can so many thoughts and emotions run like a speeding train, and then settle into a warm, vibrant sunset, all in a matter of minutes?  That’s what happened at the Wish Tree.

While I had heard of Wish Trees, I had never seen one until now.  Lucky for me that I had read the outstanding YA book Wishtree by Katherine Applegate.

She also wrote the Newbery Award winning book, The One and Only Ivan.  Yes, she is that good.  Wishtree should have won the Newbery, too.  I read the book aloud to my grandchildren – four hours, multiple days, and we never stopped.

When I visit with the grandchildren, a beloved ritual is reading a story before bedtime. The musicality of words floating into the ear and going into the mind becomes an arrow that pierces the heart.  It always happens that way.

Thanksgiving a few years ago I brought along plenty of books to read aloud.  I also brought a new book to read.  Not a read-aloud for the children, but a book for me.  I never expected what would happen next.

The children were camping out and snuggled in sleeping bags in the bedroom. It was fun, but didn’t lend itself to seeing the pictures in a picture book.  I thought I would read to them a little of my book, Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. I hadn’t read the book, so we were all jumping into something new.

What started as one night of bedtime reading became the focus of our holiday together.  The book is outstanding.  It plucks at every scintilla of the heart.  There is no stopping, as the storyline keeps going.  So, we had to keep going.  We read the next day, and the next night, and so on, until we finished the book.  211 pages.  Just like chapter reading in my classroom at school, I was reading aloud with no pictures.  The big difference was reading the book in only a few days.  Somehow, that made reading more exciting.  Breathless.  Heart pounding.

Red is an oak tree with two hundred and sixteen rings.  He’s been around a long time, and he tells the story.  He’s a Wishtree, with a long and honorable history.  On the first day of May it’s been a tradition for people to put wishes on his tree, written on paper or cloth and  tied to his branches.  Sometimes those wishes are also whispered to Red.  He talks about his neighborhood:

Different languages, different food, different customs.  That’s our neighborhood: wild and tangled and colorful.  Like the best kind of garden.

Red talks about himself and people:

For a tree, communication is just as complicated and miraculous as it is for humans.  In a mysterious dance of sunlight and sugar, water and wind and soil, we build invisible bridges to connect with the world.

Can you imagine reading those sentences to children?  I had to stop.  My grandchildren said not a word.  Words were not necessary because Red had said them all.  We were humbled.  Spellbound.

The story is centered on two children in the neighborhood, Samar and Stephen, the host of animal families who live in Red’s tree, and Francesca, whose family has owned Red for centuries.  It is history and uncovering the past, diversity and acceptance both then and now, friendship, nature, understanding, and great adventure.  Oh yes, adventure.  My grandchildren and I fell in love with Bongo the bird, Red’s best friend.  Lewis and Clark are cats, FreshBakedBread is the mama skunk, and on and on, with animals who are the supporting characters in this book.

When someone carves LEAVE on Red, the plot thickens.  This becomes sleuth work.  The stories of the children, and Francesca’s past, and also Red’s past come together.  It is captivating.  The message it sends is a beacon of hope and promise.

Like Red, I’ve been around a long time.  I know the best, and this is one of the best.

And to think that I happened upon a real Wish Tree on Cape Cod.  Wow!

Jennie

Posted in Book Review, books, chapter reading, children's books, Diversity, Early Education, Expressing words and feelings, Inspiration, Nature, reading, reading aloud, Teaching young children, wonder | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 83 Comments

A Few Quotations on Reading

Posted on August 3, 2019 by Jennie

Excellent quotations on reading from Charles French.

frenchc1955's avatarcharles french words reading and writing

confucius-1124608_960_720

(https://pixabay.com)

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”

                                                                   Confucius

Frederick_Douglass_(circa_1879)

(https://en.wikipedia.org)

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

                                                                    Frederick Douglass

jacqueline-kennedy-402038_960_720

(https://pixabay.com)

“There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.”

                                                          Jacqueline Kennedy

Remember to keep reading!

GallowsHillFinalCoverEbookGallows Hill can be found here in ebook.

Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.

An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.

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Please follow the following links to find my novel:

ebook

Print book

Thank you!

The book trailer:

Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I

My radio interview:

interview

FOE_Cover_French

Available on Amazon

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When Teachers Tell Their Stories – Part 6

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Jennie

In Part 5, children were connecting words to other stories.  Their language and critical, divergent thinking was expanding.  I told another Jennie Story that had plenty of excitement, “The Spider Story.”

Part 6
Turning off the lights when telling a story is an attention grabber.  When that story is about Halloween, all the better.  This story also has a lesson, adding to the importance of storytelling.

The Halloween Story

“It happened like this.”  When I was a little girl, children went trick-or-treating all by themselves.  There were no parents trick-or-treating.  We were…alone.  I’ll never forget the Halloween when I was eight and my sister was six.  We were so excited!  I dressed up as Raggedy Ann and my sister dressed up as a scarecrow.  We had our bags ready to collect candy.  Then my Mother said, “Jennie, don’t forget to go trick-or-treating at Mrs. Crotty’s.”

Mrs. Crotty!  She was old and mean.  She never smiled.  Her house was always dark.  Even the bricks on her house were dark.  And, the bushes and trees were enormous and grew all over.  I never saw a light in her house.  It smelled old and funny.  She did, too.  I did not want to go trick-or-treating at Mrs. Crotty’s.

I didn’t say anything and my sister and I headed off all over the neighborhood.  We had so much fun and stayed out until it was very dark.  When we got home we spread our candy out.  I gave my sister the Tootsie Roll Pops and she gave me the Reese’s peanut butter cups.  We were having a great time.  Then my Mother said, “Jennie, did you go trick-or-treating at Mrs. Crotty’s house?”  I looked down and didn’t say anything.  She said, “Take your sister and go, now.”

This was bad.  I was scared.

I took my sister’s hand and we walked to the house.  By now, trick-or-treat was over, and there were no lights on at any house.  The whole neighborhood was pitch black.  Of course Mrs. Crotty’s house was the scariest of all.  We walked up to her dark porch.  It was the longest walk, ever.  I was squeezing my sister’s hand so hard.  I was sure my heart pounding was visible.

“Sarah, you knock on the door.”

“No!  Mother told you do it.”

So, I swallowed hard, held my breath, and knocked on the door with my heart pounding.  Then, there was a creak of the door.  Just as we were ready to run away the lights came on, and Mrs. Crotty was there.  She was smiling!  She said, “Hi Jennie and Sarah.  Wait right there.  I have something for you.”  She went to the kitchen and brought back each of us a huge popcorn ball, warm and covered with caramel and butter.  She wasn’t even scary!”

And the moral of this story for children?  Face your fears.  You can be brave.  Scary things might not be so scary after all.  The lessons learned here are not direct.  There are no words in the story that say, “Be brave.”  I call this the indirect approach, which is far more powerful.  Children have to reason and come to that conclusion on their own.  I think that in itself is why the story is a popular one, packed into Halloween.

Jennie

Stay tuned for Part 7.  It’s not for the shy and the weak.

Posted in behavior, Early Education, Expressing words and feelings, Halloween, Imagination, preschool, storytelling, Teaching young children | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 75 Comments