The sky is always changing. Look away for a minute and there is a new canvas of beauty. School ended yesterday, and now I have more time to delight in the constant beauty that Mother Nature provides, from my porch and backyard. Yes, E.B. White, I am always on the lookout for the presence of wonder.
Jennie
Sally shares my stories and memories of summer camp, thunderstorms, singing, and more.
This is the newsletter I sent to parents on chapter reading – the single most important thing that makes a difference in teaching children:
Chapter Reading
June 11, 2019
Chapter reading is one of our treasured moments of the day. We bring to life the imagination, the world, and the past. The anticipation of ‘what happens next’ stirs excitement every day. Children listen and think. They ask questions. Ask your child, “At chapter reading where do you make the pictures?” You will hear your child say, “In your head.”
When we finish a good book and then start a new one, emotions run high and low. The end of a good book is so satisfying and pleasant, yet…it is over. That is the wonderful roller coaster of reading. And, with each chapter book we read, we ride that roller coaster again and again.
We are nearly through reading Little House on the Prairie, and it is thrilling; from Jack the dog, to building a house, to Indians in the house. Pa and his neighbor Mr. Scott dug a well, and we learned about the bad gas deep inside the earth (Pa had to save Mr. Scott) that only a candle can detect. Of course I told children about my grandfather in the nines and his childhood portrait wearing a miner’s hat with the same candle. Laura and her family had fever ‘n’ ague (malaria), an illness that people thought came from eating watermelons. Their neighbor Mr. Edwards actually met Santa Claus and helped to deliver their presents.
We encourage you to finish reading the book aloud to your child. There is much more ahead, from A Scream in the Night, to Fire on the Prairie. There is also fear of Indians, which I treat as an opportunity to discuss diversity and prejudice- ‘Gloria’ helps with that. If your child wants to continue the series, the next one, Farmer Boy is about Laura’s husband when he was a little boy. I recommend the following one, On the Banks of Plum Creek, which begins their next journey after the prairie.
We voted on our favorite chapter books this year. Charlotte’s Web was the clear winner with 12 votes!
These are the chapter books we have read this year. Good books are meant to be read over and over again. We encourage you to revisit these wonderful books with your child:
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles
The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Florence and Richard Atwater
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The fundamental constant that gives children the tools to succeed in school is language. The more words that children hear, the better they will do in school. Reading aloud to children is far more than an enjoyable experience. It increases their language development! In kindergarten through grade four, the primary source of instruction is oral. The more words that a child has heard, the better s/he will understand the instruction, and the better s/he will perform in school, in all subjects. Therefore, we will always campaign to read aloud.
A wonderful guide to book recommendations and to understanding the importance of reading aloud is the million-copy bestseller book, The Read-Aloud Handbook. I have used the book since my children were little. The author, Jim Trelease, visited the Aqua Room and GCS. We are featured in the new seventh edition of the book.
Jennie, Heidi, Naomi, Katy
Outstanding quotations from Charles French.
(portrait by Maurice Quentin de La Tour)
My dining room table has been a jumble of children’s work collected throughout the year. I have put on the finishing touches. Parents will get their child’s Portfolio – the full collection – next week. I’ll be there, looking over their shoulder as they walk through the school year with their child. Tissues needed.
Children have been saying goodbye in many ways. Some are crying, some are glued to my side. We’re reading all their favorite books, from Humphrey the Lost Whale, to Mother Bruce, to Harry the Dirty Dog, to Those Pesky Rabbits, and This Land is Your Land. We’re just hanging out together. Gloria has been well loved and also very needed.
My Book Bears reading group at the library had their final meeting. Here is a letter to me from Jared:
Dear Jennie, Thank you for being the head of Book Bears. My favorite book that we read was Two Dogs in a Trench Coat. You are the best preschool teacher. When I started in Book Bears I was below reading grade level. Now I am above grade level. I wrote a fairy tale in school and thought you would like it so I gave it to you.
The fairy tale is The Three Little Chipmunks and the Big Bad Giant. It’s wonderful!
I was invited to the high school graduation of a former preschooler in my class. What an honor to be included in such a special event! How many preschool teachers have this opportunity? Not many!
It is a roller coaster, a flurry of emotions, moments that are fleeting that I wish could be locked in time. I want to rewind and play it back again. But of course that cannot be. I must settle for the memories. And that is really all I need.
Jennie
Thank you, Sally Cronin, for sharing my blog post on teaching children to become a superhero. They can change the world!
I am in awe of the soldiers and sailors who are back in Normandy today, 75 years later. I always bring patriotism into my class, and a certain page in a picture book that I read all the time helps me bring D-Day into the lives of preschoolers.
This is the cemetery in Normandy. D-Day. It is a page from Peter Spier’s book, The Star-Spangled Banner. I have been reading this well-loved book to children for decades. The words read, “Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand.”
Whenever I got to this page in the book I would talk about Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC. Then I saw the movie “Saving Private Ryan” and I immediately recognized the scene in Normandy to be exactly this illustration. I nearly jumped out of my skin. After that I had a whole new understanding and respect for this page, this cemetery.
Here is what happens when I read this page:
I stop. I don’t say a word. Children need to look and take in the images.
“Jennie, is this a sad page?”
“Yes. It’s a sad page.”
“What are those white things?”
“They are crosses to mark the graves of the soldiers who died.”
Long silence.
“This is a cemetery. It’s in Normandy. Many brave young men died here. They were fighting for our freedom.”
More silence. I knew they were absorbing my words and the illustration. Their heads were spinning.
“Do you see the American flag? It is flying halfway down the flag pole. That’s called a flag flying at half mast. In a cemetery or a national place, flags are halfway down when it is sad. And Normandy is a sad place.”
We talked about the crosses, and the ones with stars. We pulled out our big map book and found Normandy. We imagined the trip there by boat.
I told children about the boats that landed, how they had a “tailgate” that dropped down so the soldiers could go ashore.
Most importantly, we talked about doing what is right, even if it is hard and you’re scared. Peter Spier understood this. His book of the song is a classic!
Never forget.
Jennie
Thank you Dr. Seuss for saying the most important words. I thought I knew you well, and today you inspired me yet again with your wisdom.
And now I find that the tables are turned. I must write words of wisdom, Dr. Seuss words, to children. It has become a popular custom for parents to have their child’s teachers – all teachers from preschool through high school – write a message in the book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss. The book is then given to the child as a high school graduation gift.
I have the privilege of being the first teacher to open that new book and pen words to a child. Those words won’t be read for fourteen years. I always think I need to carefully plan what I say, but… I just say it. I write from the heart. I told Vivian she would do great things, because she is already doing that now. I told Jackson to follow his heart, because when he does the world opens up.
Writing those words is a tremendous thing. I hope reading them in fourteen years will be a tremendous thing for the child.
Thank you, Dr. Seuss.
Jennie
Excellent quotations on education from Charles French.
Did you know that the last words the brain hears before you fall asleep are what ‘sticks’, what the brain remembers? For children this is most important. Growing up is hard work, and any good words are more than needed. They’re necessary.
Pillowcases. Bedtime. Here’s the backstory:
I will never forget hearing Jeanine Fitzgerald speak about the pillowcase. She is a Behavior Consultant and Specialist. She works with children – the tough ones, at-risk children. She also has her own school and is a presenter to teachers. I was lucky to hear her tell the story of a child who was going to be taken away from her mother. Jeanine was called in as a last resort. She told the mother to write ten positive things on a pillowcase to say to her daughter, and read one of them aloud each night before her daughter falls asleep.
How simple. Long story short, the mother did this faithfully every night. She had to. Her daughter blossomed and graduated tops in her class. The mother had more children, and did the same thing with pillowcases for each one. Years later, she contacted Jeanine Fitzgerald to tell her this remarkable story.
If reading aloud those important words written on a pillowcase every night made a significant difference to a child at risk, think what it could do for every child. Really!
I had a pillowcase event at school for families.
Children wore their PJ’s. I passionately told parents how important it is for the brain to hear positive words before falling asleep. Parents and children were to decide – together – what words / phrases / terms of endearment would be most important and meaningful. Parents wrote the words. Children decorated.
I strolled among the families and watched the bonding as they worked together to figure out their words. You know how parents desperately want to slow down and have those moments with their child. Well, that was happening in front of my eyes. I was the fly on the wall.
The Pillowcase Event. Best thing I have ever done for children and their families.
Jennie
A Teacher's Reflections 